High School Daze
by SmAsHBrownGuy
Summary: Set in an AU where humanity's strongest are now surviving the trials of average high school students, 'High School Daze' weaves the story of these heroes' escapades! [Plenty of ships (Levi x Eren, Jean x Mikasa, YUMIKURI) that may or may not come true! Read to find out!] [Rated M for adult language, themes, and humor]
1. Glennback High School

_A/N: Hi! And welcome to, 'High School Daze'! A little Attack on Titan fanfic inspired by all of the amazing writers on this website. This story takes place in an AU where the Titans never existed, instead, our heroes find themselves as average American high school students, just trying to survive the average adulations of high school life with a few twists and turns along the way. The ships are a little crazy in this one, some unconventional, some are what everyone wants to see, and some may even surprise me as I write this!_

_Let me see if I can give you a rough idea of what we're looking at here: [Levi x Eren, Jean x Mikasa, Eren x Mikasa, Sasha x Eren, Armin x Annie, YUMIKURI OF COURSE, ((Light) Reiner x Bertolt (at least some recognition that they're both gay)), Hange x ?(TBA at a later date), etc., etc., etc….] These ships will all have their intermittent moments, and some may or may not come true in the end *wink wink, nudge nudge* (Yeah that means certain ones will come true upon this fic's finale, whenever that'll be…)_

_Well, off of that tangent and on to another; DISCLAIMER: __**I,**__**IN NO WAY/SHAPE/FORM, OWN SHINGEKI NO KYOJIN (ATTACK ON TITAN), THIS IS MERELY A FAN-MADE WORK OF FICTION THAT IS INTENDED TO ENTERTAIN AND NOT TO INFRINGE ON ANY OF SNK'S (AOT'S) RIGHTS/COPYRIGHTS/ANYTHING. PLEASE DON'T SUE ME.**_

_Ok, now that that's out of the way, onwards to fiction!_

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Ah, high school; I suppose everyone who's anyone has their ideas and delusions about what high school should be: a nice environment that fosters learning, cares about its students, and wants to push them towards a bright future, and a new tomorrow! Well, unfortunately, most high schools don't follow the scripts of bad 1980s movies; Instead, for the majority, high school signifies a daily routine of early morning rising, regret, remorse, boredom, lunch, more boredom, being in the mood: 'maybe if I bash my head against my desk enough times I'll die…', bell rings, homework, then wash/rinse/repeat for 9 months out of 12, for 4 years total. Yippie…

But, despite most people's overwhelming pessimism, there were some that remained unhindered by it all, and persevered throughout it, confident as could be. This is their story; their escapades that they got into, the lessons they learned, the-(_wow, this is sounding like the opening to a really shitty dramatic novel isn't it? Oh well, whatever…) _The experience they gained, and the romances they discovered. Now, _IKUZO!_

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Cold, icy, late January winds ripped through the air around Glennback High, as the end-of-class bell blared throughout the school. Students in every class hurriedly gathered up their folders, books, and homework, and began to run off to their lockers to gather up their materials for the next class. Among them, 16-year-old sophomore, Eren Yeager. He stumbled out of the 3rd period Biology 2 classroom, along with the rest of his classmates, as his teacher, Mr. Scott, echoed after them,

"Have a good day, everyone!"

Eren strutted out of class, his expression dark, and then he heard Scott call again, "Oh yeah, Yeager, I wanna see you after the day's out!"

Eren turned his head around, and in a half-assed voice, replied, "Yeah…sure…" and then turned the corner and began to head towards his locker.

Glennback High School was a three-floored school laid out in a fairly simple manner. There were several hallways that diverged from several wings of the high school that all connected to the a large courtyard in the middle of the campus that had a large statue of some historical figure no one recognized, nor ever gave a shit about. There were concrete sidewalks to take you to each hallway/wing, but the rest of the courtyard was all grassy, hilly, and had benches and tables for studying and the like. The northernmost hallway led to several classrooms, the gymnasium, the sports complex, and other sports related rooms as well as the school infirmary. The easternmost hallway went to more classrooms, and the clubrooms. The southernmost hallway went to the main lobby area where the entries and exits were, along with the admin offices and more. And the westernmost hallway led to even more classrooms and several other minor study halls and the computer lab. Each hallway was littered with lockers and students galore. The second floor and third floors (if you could even call them that, they were actually just additions that were built on top of each wing, but everyone got accustomed to calling them 'floors' that the name kind of stuck) boasted roughly the same attractions as their predecessors. And at their tops, cleared off roofs that were decorated with some trees and flowers along with random shrubbery, and some benches. Students would often hang out there on the off time they had between or after classes (Note: Between class periods at Glennback lasted 20-25 minutes, each student had a total of 4 hour-long classes per day, and school lasted from 8:30 A.M.-1:55 P.M., unless you had extracurricular activities to attend to, and those usually drug on until 2:30 or so. Regardless, the roofs were a popular hang out spot), some students with keys to the school even hung around there on weekends because it was so peaceful!

Eren's locker was located in the westernmost wing, ground floor, Locker #175. It was a nice, out of the way locker that gave Eren a chance to be alone to himself when he wanted to, but also with his friends when he wanted to as well. His friend's lockers were all around him; Armin's was the locker directly to his left, #176, and Jean's locker was the one directly to his right, #174. Connie's locker was also right within the guy's vicinity, #173, right next to Jean, and Marco's locker was #177, right next to Armin. The guys were so close, they often found themselves using one another's lockers to store things in when necessary, as they all knew each other's locker combinations (_No comment on how wise of a decision that was…_). Eren found it funny to, more often than was welcome, shove his trumpet for band class into Jean's locker, and rig it to blare loudly when Jean opened his locker. It never got old to anyone, except for maybe Jean, but even he was getting used to laughing it off. Armin and Connie always stored books, if anything, in anyone's lockers, and Jean and Marco often threw in sweatshirts or other sweaty sports materials in the other guys' lockers just to piss them off. But no one took it seriously, everyone was familiar with the pranks that would often be pulled around that locker block, so most if not all of the other students that were initially there moved to different lockers in different sections or different wings of the school entirely. The guys didn't mind though, they actually quite enjoyed it; they had the hallway all to themselves, and that was as good as anywhere else for them.

Eren approached the guy's hallway, and saw Armin and Jean talking casually at their lockers. Armin was berating Jean for something or other, anyone could've told that from a distance given Jean's flustered appearance. Despite Jean's manners and appearance, he did alright in classes, maintaining mostly B's with the occasional A or two mixed in there. Armin was one of those valedictorian type people, and was always at the top of whatever class he was taking. Eren often had to seek Armin's tutelage, along with the rest of the guys, but that was one more reason for them to all hang out together, as far as Eren was concerned at least.

As Eren approached the two, he called out, "Hey, Armin! Jean!"

The two turned from their debacle towards Eren, smiled a little bit, and then replied, "Eren!"

Eren ran over to them, upon reaching there, he opened up his locker, then threw in his bag in, and slumped down, remembering what happened in Biology 2, and sulked for a minute.

"Biology again?" Jean inquired in a condescending tone, leaning against the locker.

"Hey," Armin began, kneeling down to Eren's level, "haven't you heard of beating a man while he's down?"

"Yeah," Jean replied, turning his head from Eren towards the window that looked onwards at the courtyard, "but have you? What with that condescending pose."

"Now look-" Armin began, but Eren put on hand on Armin's chest and stated,

"It's fine."

Armin looked back with a face that was painted with a lack of assurance.

"Really, it is." Eren continued looking up at Armin, giving a smile, then looking over at Jean, "And, you were right, Jean. It was Biology."

"As always!" Jean retorted, his attention now back on Eren and the situation at hand. Armin gave him a look of slight disgust at Jean's cockiness, but then gave him a look of acceptance, realizing that this was Jean's normal way of helping Eren, then just rolled with it.

"So what was it this time?" Armin inquired, "A quiz? A project?"

"Worse." Eren replied, "An exam."

"But you normally do well on those," Jean replied, his voice wrought with confusion, "don't you?"

"This is true," Eren replied, "but this one tripped me up a little bit, I guess. And now Mr. Scott wants to see me after class about my 'unusually unsatisfactory performance'." Eren took his gaze off of Jean, and stared out the window, "Fucking hell…"

"What is it that Marco always says?" Armin inquired, calculating a master 'cheer-up' plan, "'There's a reason behind everything!'"

"That is what he says." Jean replied, catching on to Armin's little plot. "He also told me one time that you should always seek out that reason, and see how you can better yourself from that reason."

Eren looked back at his two friends, vexed to the core.

"What we're saying is," Armin began, putting his hand on Eren's shoulder, "there's probably some really weird reason behind all this, just watch, it'll get better in the end."

"Armin has a point." Jean added, putting his hand on Eren's other shoulder, "So cheer up, buttercup!"

Eren and Armin giggled a little bit, and Jean merely responded angrily, "WHAT?!"

"_Cheer up…_" Eren muttered underneath his breath, "_buttercup…_"

Jean's face blushed crimson red out of embarrassment, "WHAT?! IT'S A PERFECTLY PROPER PHRASE!"

"Yeah, from when?" Armin responded, almost in tears from laughing, "1945?"

"You guys are dicks…" Jean replied, his face still flushed with red, as he buried himself in his locker, eventually starting to laugh as well.

Then, right at that moment, the door to the courtyard swung open, and there she was. Her chin-length black hair wafted elegantly in the wind as she proceeded towards the group of guys. She wore a girl's sweatshirt, along with jeans that were torn and tattered in various spots, significantly around her left thigh. On her back, she toted a standard grade dark blue backpack, heavy with books and other school supplies. The guys all knew who it was, who else could it be but Mikasa Ackerman; Eren's sister. Well, adopted sister, but it's all the same really.

"Eren!" Mikasa exclaimed as she ran towards Eren, disregarding everyone else around her, even the profusely blushing Jean, who took a moment to straighten his clothes and fix up his hair in her presence.

Eren looked up, and his expression lightened a little bit, as he stood up, and smiled a broad smile.

"Mikasa!" Armin exclaimed as he too stood up.

Jean was overcome with emotion as he straightened his posture, turned his head and body towards Mikasa and said in a flustered yet somehow monotonic tone, "What's up, Mikasa?" Much to his despair, Mikasa had long passed him, and was hugging Eren tightly. Jean's expression darkened as he slinked down his locker to the floor, listening in on the conversation that was unfurling next to him.

"What's going on?" Mikasa inquired as she broke embrace with Eren. "I heard something about you failing a Biology exam or something?"

Eren blushed as he heard Mikasa utter those words. "Uh…well…yeah…" Mikasa's expression darkened, but Eren was quick to reassure her, "Don't worry, it's nothing I can't handle! What's one bad grade in the face of the rest of the other good grades I get? Am I right?" Eren's tone was wrought with trepidation.

Armin straightened up at that remark from Eren, and interjected, "Yeah, I guess you're right…"

Eren could sense the situation was getting tense, and he seemed to know something the rest of the crew didn't, regardless, he began walking away, simply saying, "I have to go talk with Mr. Scott about my paper. Hope you guys understand!" and with that, he was gone.

"Jeez," Jean began, upon Eren's exit he was out of his slump all of a sudden, "what's up with him lately?"

"I don't know." Armin replied, obviously deep in thought about something. "Hey, Mikasa?"

Mikasa turned towards Armin, replying, "What is it?"

"Who all's in Eren's Biology class?" Armin inquired.

"Eh?" Mikasa replied, her face painted with confusion, "How should I know?"

"I'm just curious." Armin replied. "At the very least, is there anyone that you know? Or that you're familiar with?"

Mikasa sighed, then thought for a minute. After thinking, she replied, "No one really, except for maybe Reiner and his friend Bertolt. That's about it."

"I see…" Armin's voice was surprisingly silent, and he began to walk away from Mikasa and Jean.

"Hey!" Jean exclaimed, grabbing Armin's arm, "Where are you going?!"

"To do some detective work." Armin replied, not turning his face for a single moment to Jean as he walked out of the doors that led to the courtyard.

Jean sighed heavily as he leaned back up against his locker. It was only after he got over his initial frustration at his two idiot friends that he realized he was alone with Mikasa.

_'Shit Jean, what're you gonna do?' _Jean thought to himself as kept a calm expression while Mikasa leaned against the wall next to him. _'Okay, NOW YOU __**REALLY **__HAVE TO THINK OF SOMETHING TO DO, JEAN!' _By now Jean's mind was in more than overdrive. He had to think of something he could do that would give off the right impression to Mikasa, he didn't know too much about him, but Eren talked about her occasionally, so he had a vague read on her personality. He decided to just play it cool, and figured that he should make the first move in conversation. Just something casual, something normal, something relatable. As Jean began to open his mouth, Mikasa spoke,

"Hey, can I ask you a question?"

Jean was startled at Mikasa's initiative to start a conversation, since, from what he had gathered from Eren, she usually just played into conversation. Regardless, he rolled with it, and replied, "Sure, shoot."

"Why is your name pronounced 'Jun'," Mikasa began, "but spelled like a pair of pants?"

Jean turned to Mikasa with a confused look, but regardless, answered with, "I have no idea. How would I know?"

Mikasa turned her head back towards the window that faced the courtyard, "Just wondering. I always thought it kind of funny, that's all."

Jean blushed a little bit, and thought, _'Funny? Like "ha ha ha!" laughing out loud funny? Or bizarre funny? Idiot. What kind of a question is that, of course she thinks it's the weird kind of funny…why do I even try with her-' _there was more to Jean's thought train, but it was cut short by something Jean unmistakably heard. It was quiet, it was short, and it was hardly detectable, but it was there.

Mikasa giggled. And we're not talking about your average boyish chuckle she often gave, it was a full on, cutesey-wutesey-girly-type giggles that any other average girl had. Jean had never seen this adorable, shy side to Mikasa before. Before he knew what he was doing, Jean was chuckling profusely.

Mikasa took note of this, and inquired, "What's wrong? Did the boys finally drive you insane?"

Jean genuinely laughed at that, and dryly replied, "No, not yet at least." After he calmed down, he continued, "I was actually laughing at that girly chuckle you did."

Mikasa tensed up, and it was hard to tell, but it looked like she was blushing. Jean didn't have much of a time window though, because he heard Mikasa's knuckles crack as she balled her right hand up into a fist, and took a swing at Jean's gut. Jean keeled over, and after coughing up what felt like a lung but was in all actuality just a lot of dry air, he continued,

"No, you don't understand." Jean pulled himself to his feet, "I thought it was really cute." Jean braced himself for the impact of another fist to his gut, but instead was greeted with a demure,

"Thank you…" from Mikasa, who abruptly rushed off, dropping a few papers and a pencil or two in her wake.

Connie rushed up from the end of the hallway, trailed by Marco, both dressed in heavy sweatshirts and jeans, except for Connie; he was also wearing a blue beanie cap that was _way _to big for his head, but he wore it regardless.

"Yo, Jean!" Connie called out.

"Jean!" Marco echoed.

Jean turned and saw his two friends rapid on the approach, and eagerly ran to meet them. He greeted Connie casually and fist bumped Marco, then asked of them, "Wait, what're you two doing down here? Shouldn't you two be headed towards class?"

"That's kind of the reason we're down here in the fist place." Marco replied.

"I don't follow." Jean said, vexed to the core.

"Truth be told, we should be on our way to class," Connie began as him, Marco, and Jean began wandering the halls, unsure of exactly where they were destined, "but something happened…"

"Oh, God…" Jean replied, face palming as he spoke.

"If you want," Marco began, "I can give you the light version of the whole incident, that is, if you want."

"No," Jean replied, "If I'm going hear this let's hear it from the mouth of the blunt, and the arrogant. Connie, go ahead…" Jean instantly regretted that decision.

Over the next 10 minutes or so, Connie weaved the magnificent tale of the whole reason they were there.

Apparently (for some odd reason), someone thought it would be hilarious to loosen Mr. Klein (4th hour Algebra II teacher)'s chair's bolts, causing it to collapse and him to sustain injury enough to warrant hospitalization. So the students had the rest of the day off. Even though Connie and Marco rambled on and on about no knowing who it was, and how it will 'remain a mystery', it was blatantly obvious that the perpetrators were standing right before Jean. Though he wasn't surprised in the least.

Connie always had a knack for getting himself into these kinds of situations. Whenever he pulled it all off, he would be smiling from ear to ear, so confident in his abilities that he felt invincible. But when he got caught, he got all panicky, and scrambled to find whatever excuse he could to get himself out of the situation. That's normally when Marco came in.

If Jean had ever met someone with a silver tongue and a mind of steel to match, it was Marco Bodt. Marco always talked himself out of anything; whether it be not doing his homework, getting an answer wrong on a test, or being late for class, Marco had a method to madness, a way out of the darkness, and a manner of speaking that confused the ever-loving shit out of any adult who ever spoke against him. So it was only natural that Marco was the one to get Connie out of any binds that he got himself in. He even saved Jean a few times when he got caught up talking up with him, and was late for sports practice.

After the story was all said and told, Jean simply said, "Uh huh, and that's how it all happened?"

Through stifled giggles, Connie replied, "When have we told you otherwise?"

Jean gave the two a casual glance that said, _'Would you like a list?'_

Marco gave a grunt, then simply said, "So, was that Mikasa Ackerman we saw running off?"

Jean jumped back a little at Marco's remark, and replied, "M-maybe!" his stuttering confirming Marco's thoughts, "Why?!"

"No reason." Marco replied with a smug smile, "But when are you going to grow a pair and just ask her out?"

"Yeah, Jean." Connie added, "You can't keep beating around the bush like this, I mean, c'mon man."

Jean stepped back a little bit as his friends ganged up on him, flashing smiles of Cheshire Cats. "It's not as easy as it seems!" Jean began, "First of all, how do you approach someone like her, who's great at everything! Sports, school, even out of school! Have you seen her walk home! I bet everyone else in this school likes her!"

"Correction, my friend." Marco interrupted, "They don't 'like' her," he threw his arm around his friend's shoulder, "they _**admire **_her." Jean felt a moment of realization within himself, as Marco continued to speak, "And the two are far from synonymous."

Connie threw his arm around Jean's shoulder (well, actually just his back, as he wasn't tall enough to reach Jean's shoulder), and said, "You know what I bet?"

"W-what?" Jean shakily replied as he looked down towards Connie.

"I bet," Connie began, "she's never had anyone who truly loved her, like you do."

Jean was thrown aback. He never considered that option before. Had Mikasa ever really known true love?

"I completely agree with Connie." Marco chimed in, capturing Jean's attention, "I bet that she's so used to adoration and idolization, even, in certain instances, objectification, that she's forgotten what it feels like to truly love someone, or be truly loved by another. Is all this getting across to you?"

Jean had been speechless throughout this little ordeal, conducting all his responses in his head. _'They normally have a good eye for these things, especially Marco.' _Jean thought to himself, his face still painted with astonishment as he remained silent, _'But are they right in this instance? Can anyone really read Mikasa? And if they can, wouldn't they be a better person for her than me?' _

Marco quickly took his hand off of Jean's shoulder and flicked Jean in the back of the head, eliciting an "Ow!" from Jean, as well as a "What the hell?!"

"You were doubting yourself." Marco replied. "Were you not?"

Jean couldn't deny this truth, and simply replied, "So what if I was? I have good reason to. Do you not see the odds stacked against me?"

"You've been in worse situations." Marco replied. "Do you remember the situation at the basketball game a week or two ago? We were down 3 points, 4 seconds left in the game, 3 guys in front of you, all taller than you, but you went for the full court shot, and made it, winning us the game?"

Jean mused at his own magnificence, "How could I forget? The team still hasn't let me forget about it."

"You see?" Marco stated, "Fate has a way of playing in your favor, more so than I've seen anyone else. So I have no doubt Fate will create a situation where your questions will be answered, and from there, you need to _make _it work for you." Marco gave Jean a pat on the back at the end of his statement.

"You're a relatively smooth guy." Connie reassured Jean. "You'll work it all out."

"Relatively?" Jean dryly replied.

"Now that that's worked out," Marco began, "let's go to the lounge area, I'm thirsty."

"Same here!" Connie chimed in.

"Then the drinks are on me today, boys!" Marco lightly replied, his face painted with a smile. "Jean, you in?"

Jean almost agreed, but then he noticed the papers that Mikasa had dropped as she was running away, and replied, "You guys go ahead, there's something I have to take care of."

"Suit yourself, c'mon Marco!" Connie stated, grabbing Marco's arm and dragging him onwards.

_'Atta boy, Jean.'_ Marco thought to himself as he looked back and saw Jean picking up Mikasa's papers, _'Make that situation work…'_ He then turned his attention towards Connie, and the two dashed onwards out of the hallway, and towards, the lounge.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Jean spent a solid 5 minutes picking up the loose sheets of paper that Mikasa had left in her wake, some of them were application forms for clubs that he assumed Mikasa was joining, including Art club, Dance club, Track club, Soccer club, Drama club-

_'Drama club?' _Jean thought to himself as he gazed at the sheet of paper. It was light pink, and had the masks of happiness and tragedy up in the top right corner, along with the words 'EMBRACE YOUR INNER ACTOR' at the top center in a really cheesy cursive font. The rest was just some standard information regarding the way the club operated, as well as it's upcoming play, 'Romeo and Juliet', and that got the cogs in Jean's mind turning. But that could be saved for a later time, he had to haul ass down the hallway that Mikasa took. He hadn't be away from the original spot very long, about 10 minutes or so with Marco and Connie, and then another 5 picking up papers, so he figured he pretty much had Mikasa cornered. There was only an exit, and the Art club down this way, and since Mikasa wasn't the type to ditch, this situation couldn't have been more perfect.

He opened up the door to the Art club room, walked down the hall that led to another door into the actual room itself. The hall leading to the other door was made entirely of smoothed over brick, and was constantly chilly, but was the safest place in the school in the instance of a tornado. The Art club room itself was a small room, with only a few tables and desks for drawing, easels and paint supplies, cupboards that held said supplies that were all at the back, as well as a closet with other materials for more finite drawing, and the desk for the Club President at the front of the room, to your immediate left as you entered. As he walked towards the door to the room, he realized that his time was running thin; he had to give these to Mikasa, make a good first impression, get his things for class, and make it to his class, all in a little under 10 minutes. He ran over in his mind what he was going to do and say roughly a thousand times, and when he reached the door at the end of the hall, he saw through the window on the door, the figure of a someone in there. Confident in his abilities, he swung open the door, and declared,

"Hey, I think you dropped-" but cut himself short mid-sentence when he saw who was actually there.

This person was too tall to be Mikasa, but it was woman, though Jean couldn't tell at first glance. It was only when the girl turned herself around that Jean could see her face, and the unmistakable breasts that were beneath her shirt. She was wearing a black men's blazer, with a Bring Me The Horizon band tee underneath, tattered jeans, and boots. She had freckles as well as a short, dark, ponytail, and her expression could best be described as, unamused. She took her headphones off which were blaring heavy metal music, a song that Jean barely recognized as 'The Death of Me' by Asking Alexandria, only knowing its name because he heard it on the radio once and paused them.

"What are you doing here?" the girl inquired as she got up from the seat that she was drawing at.

Jean was taken aback, but knew he had to adapt to what was happening, and simply replied, "I came to find someone, but now I've found you. Who are you?"

The girl scoffed, and replied, "The better question is who are you? And who did you come looking for?" her tone was aloof, but you could sense that there was still emotion within it.

"I'm Jean Kirstein," Jean replied, "and I was looking for a girl with black, chin length hair named Mikasa Ackerman."

The girl stood there for a minute, then began to move towards Jean. She offered him a seat across from her at the table nearest to the door, which Jean accepted. "Ymir." she simply stated.

"Come again?" Jean inquired as he began to shove the papers he originally had in his hand into his backpack which he laid down next to his seat.

"Deaf _and_ confused, are you?" the girl inquired, "I said, 'Ymir'. My name is Ymir."

"Oh, ok…" Jean replied. "That's an interesting name."

Ymir rolled her eyes at Jean's comment, and then kicked her feet up on the chair next to her. "So, what's so special about this Mikasa chick?" she inquired.

Jean blushed slightly, "Nothing really," he began, "we were just talking earlier, and she dropped some papers, so I came to return them to her. I saw her come down this way, and assumed that she was here."

"You wouldn't be wrong." Ymir aloofly replied, "She was in here for a minute or two." Jean's ears perked up at what Ymir was saying. "She was asking about how to join this club, I told her that she needed a form. She said she had one, then dug in her bag for a few minutes, didn't find it, and then said that she must've left it in her locker or something. So she left. That's all I know."

"I see," Jean replied. "Well, thanks for that, but I should be going to class now, so…" Jean began to go for the door.

"Hold it." Ymir sternly said, stopping Jean in his tracks, "Sit back down."

Jean didn't normally take orders from people, but something about this girl seemed different. Jean obliged and sat back in his original spot.

"I'm guessing you like this Mikasa girl, right?" Ymir inferred.

Jean blushed at the assumption, but figured he had nothing to lose with honesty, and replied, "Yeah…so?"

"But I'm also guessing," Ymir began, "that you get all shaky when you're around her, and you can't confidently speak, or communicate your feelings well, as a result, you end up only falling deeper for her right?"

Jean was amazed at Ymir's ability to read him, it was like she had been in the exact same place as him. "That's exactly it!"

"I knew it." Ymir replied, "Puppy love is adorable, isn't it?"

"It really is!" Jean replied with a smile, but then, confused, he inquired, "Hey, how did you know _exactly _how I feel?"

"What, a girl can't have emotions?" Ymir inquired, her face painted with a small smirk.

"No, that's not it." Jean replied, but was unsure how to continue.

"I know, because I'm in that situation right now." Ymir replied.

"You're in love with a guy?" Jean assumed, his face painted with relief.

"I'm in love all right." Ymir replied, "But I'm ashamed that you would even insinuate that it's a guy."

Jean's relief was shattered, yet after he thought about it, it was built up again. "So you're a…" he began, unsure if he should say it or not.

"Lesbian?" Ymir said. "Yes. And I'm madly in love with the girl of my dreams."

Jean felt it would be prying to ask, but he did it anyway, "Have you told anyone else this? And who's the girl?"

Ymir chuckled a little bit at Jean's curiosity, but simply stated, "Ah, what the hell. You were honest with me, time for me to return the favor." Ymir took her feet off of the chair next to her, and stood up, leaning on the table. "I knew I was gay when I sat down and took a look at girls; how mystical yet enticing they really are, and how they're objectified by men. I knew from that moment onwards that I was destined to love and marry a woman. As far as telling people, my parents know, and they don't care; I think some other people at school know, but they don't say anything because they're afraid to. And the girl," Ymir lingered on those words, "the girl is the most beautiful thing to ever grace this planet. She's elegant, fair, cute, just like a princess or something, and we understand each other perfectly. We've known each other for a year or two now, and I fell in love with her from the moment I first saw her. She's amazing, and I couldn't imagine loving anyone other than her."

Jean was astounded at Ymir's openness to a complete stranger, and how she spoke so high of this girl he had never met, but he somehow knew that she was the perfect girl for Ymir. "Wow." was all Jean could say, but after a minute of so, he said, "I'm sure the two of you are the happiest people alive together."

Ymir's expression darkened, "Therein lies the problem." She sat back down, and said, "She doesn't know how I truly feel. And each time I'm with her, I get all shaky and stutter. And I can't speak my feelings well."

"So we're in the same boat then?" Jean stated.

"Yeah, I guess we are…" Ymir trailed off, ashamed at herself for her inability to communicate her feelings.

Jean took pity on Ymir, and was about to say something when the door opened up. The girl on the other side of the door was a vision of loveliness and elegance. Her blonde hair flowed down to below her shoulders, and her face was flawless. She wore a red beanie that fit her perfectly, along with a light blue blouse, a black skirt, and a messenger bag that hung at her side, adorned with buttons from various bands, and fit her perfectly. Ymir's head perked straight up when she sensed her presence, and she gained a slight blush.

"Historia!" Ymir exclaimed, her face painted with a smile, her tone elated.

Historia's face lit up as well, and she too gained a smile as she said, "Hey, Ymir!" she looked over to Jean and asked, "Who's this?"

Ymir shot a glance at Jean that implied that Jean should keep quiet, and she said, "He's Jean, he came looking for someone so I was just giving him some guidance."

Historia walked over to Jean and held out her hand, "Hi, I'm Historia, Historia Reiss! Nice to meet you!"

Jean shook her hand, practically feeling Ymir's eyes boring holes through him, so he broke the shake as quickly as he could. "Yeah, I'm Jean Kirstein."

"I assume you've gotten acquainted with Ymir here." Historia said.

"Y-yeah…you could say that." Jean replied, avoiding as much confrontation with Historia as he could.

"Isn't she just the greatest?" Historia said as she ran over and hugged Ymir's arm. Ymir's face was instantly flushed a deep crimson red, and you could see the feeling of euphoria on her face. The height difference between them was extremely obvious when they were that close. Ymir stood a few inches taller than Historia, but if Historia got on her tip-toes (or Ymir bent down a little bit), they would be on face level with each other.

"Yeah, she's pretty great." Jean replied, keeping Historia's attention on Ymir.

"S-so, what's up Historia?" Ymir asked as she wrapped the arm Historia was previously hugging around her shoulder. "What brings you by here?"

Historia blushed at the fact that Ymir's arm was around her, but she didn't have long to relish in the feeling, and replied, "W-well, I came here to submit my application for Art club since we agreed to sign up for our clubs together. And afterwards, I was going to ask you to sign up with me for Drama club as well. Oh, no!" Historia buried her face in Ymir's chest, "I messed up! Asking you to come with me to Drama club was going to be a surprise, and now I messed it all up! I'm sorry…"

Ymir cupped Historia's chin with her free hand, "Nothing you do is ever a mistake, to me…" she longingly said. Jean thought he could hear the dramatic music swelling, but decided to disregard it, and instead let the situation play out. The two gazed into each other's eyes for a moment, but then both blushed, and just resumed their previous position.

"S-So, I'll see you at Drama club signups after school?" Historia demurely asked.

"Of course!" Ymir confidently replied. "Two o' clock, right?"

"Yep!" Historia replied with a smile. "Then afterwards we can go out and get something to eat!"

"Sounds great!" Ymir replied. Jean had noticed that Ymir had blushed a little bit at the words 'go out'.

"Good! Now," Historia straightened her bag, "I have to get to class, see you there!" And with that she hugged Ymir goodbye, and walked out the door.

When she was gone, Jean stood up, and mockingly said, in Ymir's tone of voice, "_She doesn't know how I feel. We're not a couple_-" his sentence was cut short by a sharp pain in his stomach that, when he looked down, was revealed to be Ymir, more specifically, Ymir's boot.

_'Damn, she's flexible…' _Jean lamented to himself when Ymir retracted her foot, and when he was able to think straightly again.

"Yet…" Ymir muttered.

"What?" Jean hacked heavily before he continued his sentence, "What are you talking about."

Ymir walked over to Jean, and said, "Her and I aren't a couple, _**yet**_…" and with that she began to leave the room.

Jean mulled over what just happened, and stopped Ymir right before she left, "Wait!"

Ymir turned around and asked, "What do you want?"

"I just wanted to say, I support you two fully." Jean said with a smile. "And I'll do anything I can to help you two!"

Ymir gave a shrewd look to Jean, but then smiled and said, "Yeah, whatever..." and with that she did leave, leaving Jean alone in the Art room, with his thoughts. He looked over to the clock in the corner, and his eyes widened as he realized he had only three minutes to get to class. Whatever thoughts he was going to have, he had to abandon them, and focus on the mad dash to his class.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

As the end of class bell ring, the same bell that signaled the end of another day, the students of Glennback all rushed out to their lockers to get their respective belongings, and begin heading to their clubs, or to their cars to get home. However, a much darker side of the school was being shown elsewhere.

Eren Yeager sat in the middle of the courtyard on a bench; there weren't many people around, and he would've been freezing had it not been for his heavy winter jacket with a fur-lined hood, gloves, and stocking hat.

_'Damnit!' _he thought to himself, _'Why did I loan my scarf Mikasa this morning? She said she'd return it after school, yet here I am, and she isn't meeting up where we promised we would…wait….'_

Eren remembered something Mikasa had told him this afternoon before the second to last class. She had said something about staying little late to go check out clubs, but that she would be home before dinner, and that he should just go straight home.

"Wow, I really am inattentive…" Eren said to himself out loud, making sure that no one had just seen him talking to himself. After five minutes or so of just watching the snow gently fall on the campus, he got up off of his bench and decided maybe he should go home, so he began walking towards the hallway that led to the exit wing. But before he got there, he heard a stern voice call his name,

"Hey, Yeager!"

Eren recognized that voice, and he turned around and saw that it was none other than Reinter Braun stood in front of the statue in the middle of the courtyard And of course, right next to him, towering over him, was his best friend, Bertolt Hoover.

"What do you want!?" Eren exclaimed back at them.

"You know damn well what we want!" Bertolt replied, his cocky voice causing Eren to make the mistake of walking towards Reiner and him. The students around them were beginning to take notice of the situation, and drawing a little closer.

"We had a deal!" Reiner said in a more relaxed tone, now that Eren was within a reasonable distance of him. "We just want to make sure you followed through with it."

Eren cringed as he remembered the deal that he had made with the two figures before him. He replied, "Yeah…I failed the Biology 2 exam."

Bertolt moved in on Eren, gave him a punch on the shoulder, and a maniacal, "Atta boy!" and then shared a cackle with Reiner.

"Where's Annie?" Eren inquired, as he scanned the courtyard for the blonde.

"Out sick today." Reiner replied. "But she'll be happy to hear this news. You did good Yeager, as always."

"But is it right?" Eren replied. Reiner and Bertolt froze, and instantly diverted their look off of each other and towards Eren.

"What was that, little shit?" Reiner asked as he moved towards Eren.

"I said," Eren began, "Is this really right? I can't keep saving your asses forever you know. I have to pass!"

"No one ever said this was right." Reiner began, as he moved in closer, Bertolt in tow, the two now an arm's length away from Eren. At this distance, Eren could smell the alcohol that tainted the two's breath and clothes.

"Yeah, you don't have to keep this up." Bertolt said, "But," he added, "you don't have to keep living either, now do you?" At the end of that statement, he gave Eren a little shove.

"Really, until we pass at least," Reiner began, as he too gave Eren a shove, "you have no choice." Eren shoved Bertolt right back, and assumed a defensive position.

Reiner scoffed, "Well, well, well…" he grabbed Eren tightly by his jacket, "since when did you become the physical type?"

"When I realized I don't have to keep dealing with your bullshit my entire life." Eren confidently replied.

Reiner snapped at those words, and hoisted Eren up like he was nothing. Eren struggled to break free, to no avail, and Reiner slammed Eren hardly against the bronze plaque on the stone pedestal that was beneath the statue. Eren grunted, but held back and kept fighting. Bertolt gave him a jab in the side, and Eren stopped fighting for a minute while he regained his surroundings. Reiner used his free hand to deal Eren a blow in the stomach, to which Eren gave no reaction, but on the inside, he was in immense pain. Bertolt reached in his pocket, and produced a small switchblade, which he flipped out and handed to Reiner. Reiner hesitated for a minute, but grabbed the blade, and drew it back. Eren couldn't really tell, but he thought he saw something in Reiner's eyes. Apprehension. Eren lingered there for a solid 30 seconds, while Reiner contemplated his actions.

"Reiner, what're you waiting for?!" Bertolt exclaimed, "Cut the little bastard!"

"I know! I know!" Reiner sharply exclaimed, as he continued to shakily fiddle with the blade. By now, a large crowd had gathered around the trio. The girls screamed out of fear for Eren, and the guys had to be held back by their friends who wanted to see a little bloodshed on this boring day.

Eren closed his eyes, awaiting the feeling of the cold steel penetrating his flesh, but instead, what he felt was a sharp pain in his butt as he was dropped to the ground. He looked forward and saw Reiner, down on one knee, clenching in pain, along with Bertolt, who was on the ground, unconscious.

Reiner turned around, and saw someone behind him. It was a man, his height made him appear about the size of a freshman, but there was a senior's lanyard hanging out of his pocket. His face was painted with disdain, and it wasn't just at Reiner, it seemed like that was his average expression. His hair was dark black, and styled in an undercut that caused the bangs to fall next to his piercing green eyes, and to fall above his ears in the front, but directly behind those ears fell to about halfway over them. He was dressed in a dark black men's tuxedo jacket, with a white undershirt, spotless black dress trousers, and a cravat that looked like it had been meticulously taken care of to be spotless.

"What the hell was that for?!" Reiner exclaimed as he got to his feet and confronted the man. Reiner realized that he had to look down at the man, as Reiner towered roughly 10 inches or so above him. "Who are you?!"

The man looked up Reiner, scoffed at him, and then pushed him aside, and walked over to Eren.

Eren felt relief, he had been saved from Bertolt and Reiner, and the man was about to defend him, no matter what the cost. At least, that's what Eren thought. His hopes were dashed by the feeling of a dress shoe striking his jaw from his left side (the man's right), and blood flying from his mouth, along with a tooth that struck the iced over concrete. Eren didn't know what to make of this, but he didn't have time to react as the man's left foot struck Eren in the stomach. The man continued his attack as he again struck Eren, this time by bashing his right kneecap into Eren's face. Blood streamed down Eren's face from his nose and mouth, as Eren took a second to breathe through the blood. Only a second though, as the man uppercut Eren with his right foot, then, with the same movement, used the downward momentum to slam Eren's face to the ground, with his foot on top of Eren's head. Eren looked through blurred vision at the blood that tainted the snow on the concrete path, leading to the hallway, that led to the wing with the exit. If only Eren hadn't stopped walking. Eren's thought train was interrupted by the impact of a fine dress shoe impacting his face. Blood once again spurted from the immediate pores of Eren's face, as the man repeatedly kicked Eren, until he finally let up, grabbed Eren by his hair, stared into his bloody face, Eren thought he saw him crack a small smile and mouth the words,

_'Just go along with it.'_

and then the man turned to Reiner and said, "Well?" His voice was deep enough to command a crowd, and carried enough force to show that there was meaning in any word that was uttered by this man, but was elegant and eloquent all at the same time.

Reiner was in shock at the events that had just transpired, and could only respond, "Wh-what do you mean?"

The man responded, "You wanted to kill him, didn't you? This is your opportunity." The man slammed the back of Eren's head against the stone of the statue's pedestal, undid Eren's jacket, pulled down Eren's shirt, and gestured to Eren's bare chest saying, "He's open, go ahead."

Reiner remembered the switchblade in his hand, and stared at it for a moment. He gazed over to Bertolt, who was still unconscious, and then stared at the bloody, near dead, Eren. Reiner got to his feet and stared once again at his friend, Bertolt, who was still unconscious on the walkway behind Reiner. Reiner threw the blade to the ground then proceeded sling Bertolt over his shoulder. He casted an angry scowl at both Eren and the man, then dashed off towards the exit.

The man looked around and exclaimed, "Well, what are you all staring at, there's nothing left here to see, leave!"

With that, the crowd disbanded. Through the crowd, an panicked Mikasa and Armin bursted out. Mikasa's face was painted with a look of worry and fury as she grabbed Eren's shoulders and shook him to keep him awake.

"EREN! WAKE UP!" Armin exclaimed as he too shook Eren from the side.

"EREN! EREN!" Mikasa exclaimed, as she began to undo her scarf.

But before she could get it fully undone, Eren put his bloody hand on Mikasa's and said, "N…no. You need this more than me…" and then his head slumped down into his chest. Eren was unconscious.

Mikasa's attention was immediately turned towards the man. Her emotion could only be described as pure fury. "Who the fuck are you?! What made you think you could-" She exclaimed, her voice full of contempt, but she was cut short by the man's icy glare. Somehow, it halted Mikasa right in the middle of her sentence.

The man continued to glare down Mikasa, despite their major height differences, and calmly replied, "Levi. You are?"

Mikasa was taken aback by Levi's unflappable demeanor, and equally as calmly replied, "Mikasa. Mikasa Ackerman. Eren's sister."

Levi showed what appeared to be worry at the words, 'Eren's sister', but regained his composure and went over to Armin, who was still intent on attempting to wake Eren.

"Calm down." Levi said as he pulled Armin off of Eren. "He's not dead, just unconscious."

"Wh-why did you do this?" Armin inquired, panicked at his friend's state.

Levi continued to closely inspect Eren's face and body for severe damage, and replied, "To prove a point. You saw them dash off, didn't you?"

"Reiner and Bertolt…" Mikasa said as she stared onwards at Levi.

"Yes, those pitiful excuses for humans." Levi replied. "I knew they wouldn't take action, so I provided them a situation where they would have to take action," Levi then turned his gaze towards Mikasa and Armin, "or be deemed cowards."

Mikasa and Armin trembled as Levi's eyes seemed to pierce the very fibers of their beings.

Levi then proceeded to sling Eren over his shoulder, as Mikasa and Armin marveled at Levi's strength despite his size.

"Come." Levi sternly said as he began to walk off with Eren.

"Wait, Levi!" Armin exclaimed. "Where are you taking him?!"

"Idiot…" Levi replied, "The school infirmary." He continued to walk onward with Eren in tow, "Come on! Or do you not care about him?…" Levi, again, stared straight at Mikasa when he uttered those last words.

Mikasa, for the first time in her life, felt true fear. Who was this man? And why did he randomly defend Eren of all people? What was happening here?

"Hey, Mikasa!" Armin called from all the way at the entrance to the northernmost wing. "C'mon!"

Mikasa, now back in reality, called back, "Coming!" and then rushed onwards towards the group.

From a distance, behind the stone pedestal, a lone girl watched on. Her dark auburn hair was done up in a sort of pony-tail like fashion, but her bangs hung down, whipping gently in the chilly winds. Her hands were tightly clasped over her heart as she watched Levi and the rest leave. She stepped out from behind the pedestal, and whispered to herself,

"Eren..."

before she too, dashed off after them.

_A/N: Well, this is shaping up to be interesting! Will Jean ever get his feelings across? Will Ymir ever get __**her **__feelings across to Historia? And what's going on with Levi? What does he want with Eren? More importantly, WHAT'S WITH ALL THE DRAMA CLUB MENTIONS?! These answers and more in the next week on '__High School Daze__'!_

_Until then, please review and leave your honest criticism! And, as always, have a great day/month/year of your life!_


	2. What did I get myself into?

_A/N: Well, you guys seemed to enjoy my previous chapter so I think everyone here's going to get along just fine! But seriously, I'm glad that you guys enjoyed the previous chapter, as always, it's TONS of fun to write these for you guys, it's something I really enjoy and I'm glad people enjoy reading them. But, back to the story!_

_If you remember where we last left off, Eren just had the ever-loving shit beaten out of him by a mysterious senior clansman named 'Levi', after Bertolt and Reiner got into a minor dispute, Jean began his conquest of Mikasa and wound up meeting and acquainting himself with Ymir and Historia, and Marco and Connie went and had drinks at the lounge, I joined them after the whole situation calmed down and I gotta say, they have amazing lemonade at this school! I should probably pay Marco back at some point though...Oh, sorry, I'm off topic again…_

_Anyways, thanks for reading, I hope you continue to read, and I will see you at the end in the ending A/N! Until then, enjoy 'High School Daze'!_

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Eren slowly but surely gained consciousness. He squinted his eyes once or twice before he was able to fully open them and look around. At first, he was blinded by the flood of light that was before him, and he wondered if that beating he had been dealt had actually cost him his life. A quick, self-administered, pinch to the arm told Eren that he wasn't dreaming, nor had he moved on to that big campus in the sky, so he sat up examined his surroundings.

Eren was alone in a room that was wall to wall linoleum, with stone walls, and was laid out in a hospital-style bed, minus the tightly tucked sheets. It could only be one place, Glennback High Student Infirmary, if infirmary was used in an extremely light sense of the word. It was basically just a self-serve school nurse's office with a hospital bed or two that had the classic shower curtains surrounding them, some basic medical supplies and a few chairs for visitors. Eren soon realized that the flush of light he felt upon his initial awakening was coming from the window to his immediate right. Since the infirmary was towards the back of the northernmost wing, and was on the 2nd floor, when the sun rose, all the light from the sunrise flooded in magnificently (at least under normal circumstances). _'Sunset…' _Eren thought to himself as he stretched his arms up in what appeared to be a feeble attempt to touch the ceiling but failed when a sharp pain coursed throughout his body, causing him to recoil and lurch over his lap.

_'How long have I been out?…' _Eren asked himself as he carefully straightened up. He looked around once again, and saw some figures outside of the infirmary. He called out to them, "Hey! Is anybody there?!"

_'What kind of question is that, of course there are people there…' _Eren thought to himself as the figures stirred a little bit, then slid open the doors.

Mikasa was the first of the trio of figures to enter, as she rushed in, forcefully slid Eren's bed curtain aside and embraced him tightly, practically in tears. Eren returned the embrace, then looked onwards at the door to see who was next.

Armin was the next to enter, and he was already in tears. He ran over next to Eren and grabbed onto his arm, crying into his shoulder and exclaiming praises and expressions of gratitude to Eren for surviving that ordeal.

Finally, Levi entered, his hands tucked into the pockets on his dress pants, and his cravat slightly stained with Eren's blood. He walked over to the end of Eren's bed, stared Eren straight in the eye, and stated, "You got blood _all _over me, idiot."

Mikasa released Eren and clenched her fist at Levi, who demonstrated no falter in his demeanor. He simply walked over to Eren, gave him a once over, then sat down on his bed.

Eren's facial expression was neutral. He wasn't mad at Levi, he kept him from getting killed by Reiner and Bertolt; but in exchange, what damage did he suffer? Would he have been better off dealing with Reiner and Bertolt on his own? Or did Levi save his life by putting it in danger?…

"So…" Eren began as he faced Levi, "who are you? Why did you save me? What do you want?"

Levi turned to face Eren, and replied, "Levi. To humiliate a pair of worthless, piece of shit human beings. For you to be safe. There, does that sum it all up?"

Eren was slightly taken aback by Levi's numerical way of answering Eren's questions, but was nonetheless impressed.

"I'm sorry it had to be done in that manner," Levi continued as he glanced out the window, "but you understand, right?"

Eren didn't respond, he was to shaken to even entertain the idea of responding, he hadn't even begun to process everything that had happened, and now he was being apologized to by the very man who just a minute ago was calling him an idiot for sullying his cravat.

Eren instead laid back in his bed, and replied, "Yeah…I get it…"

"So," Levi began, "no one here hates me?" Levi looked around the room casually, and then focused his gaze back on the motley crew before him.

Eren was surprisingly the first to respond by saying, "No…I don't hate you…" much to both Mikasa and Armin's shock, "In fact, thank you. If it hadn't been for you, I might be dead at the hands of those bastards, so thanks."

The crew thought they saw a smile cross Levi's face, but dismissed it when Levi turned his gaze to Mikasa and Armin who were huddled at opposite sides of Eren. Mikasa spoke up and said, "I'm not sure how to feel about you, but you can't be all that bad since you did save him from a worse fate. So, I guess, thank you." Mikasa tightened her grasp on one of the tassels of her scarf, and blushed a little. Levi raised eyebrow at that, but didn't let it show.

Instead, he turned to Armin and inquired, "What about you, blondie?"

Armin tensed up, and Eren detected telltale signs of panic within Armin. The crushing sensation Eren felt in his arm from Armin's sudden, tight, squeeze was a dead giveaway as well.

"W-well…" Armin began, "I guess I can't hate you since you rescued my best friend. So, no. I don't hate you. Thank you."

Levi nodded his head, then redirected his gaze at Eren. "Now," he began, "freedom, albeit delicious, comes with a price. I'd like you to do something for me."

"Whoa, whoa!" Mikasa exclaimed as she rose up and stared down at Levi, "You put him into critical condition, and now you're going to make demands of him?"

Levi rose up as well, and Mikasa realized how short he actually was up close and in person. "It seems only fair." Levi replied. "Besides, this is something I think he'll enjoy."

Mikasa grimaced at Levi, but nonetheless sat back down, this time grabbing tightly to Eren's hand.

Levi walked closer to Eren, and pulled Armin off of Eren's left shoulder, directing Armin to simply sit on the bed while he occupied the chair. Armin really wasn't in a position to argue, so he rapidly gave up his seat. Levi sat down, and then started reaching around in his jacket. After a few seconds, he pulled out a neatly folded, light pink sheet of paper. He handed it to Eren who tore his hand away from Mikasa and proceeded to unfold it. Eren halfway recognized it, but only fully recognized it when he opened it and saw the masks of tragedy and comedy in the top right corner, and the words 'EMBRACE YOUR INNER ACTOR' in a cheesy cursive font int he middle.

Eren's gaze shot up from the paper and towards Levi, as he exclaimed, "You want _me _to join the Drama Club!?"

Levi kicked his feet up, resting them upon Eren's legs, and crossing one over the other. He turned his gaze to Eren as he said, "Definitely." He then turned his head towards his feet as he lamented, "You didn't just get blood on my cravat, but my shoes too…"

Mikasa sneered at Levi, and scowled out, "What are you up to? And why do you want him?"

Levi lifted his gaze up to Mikasa, and stated, "He seems very…passionate." He turned towards Eren, "Like he could do fantastic things if he was truly motivated to do something. Plus," Levi grabbed Eren by the chin and turned Eren's face towards himself, "he has a good face. Not like a lot of these other male actors who look like they slammed their face into a wall." He looked into Eren's eyes for a few seconds, then released Eren's face and inquired, "So, will you do it?"

Eren rubbed his chin and jaw where Levi had grabbed it, and then stated, "But wait, auditions for the Club are over by now, aren't they? So there's no way I could get it."

"I'll handle it." Levi replied, "I happen to be the Drama Club Vice President."

The crew drew back in shock, Eren's jaw almost dropped to the floor. Armin was the only one who could stutter out, "V-Vice P-President?"

Levi leaned further back, and stated, "That's right. What's so surprising, blondie?"

Armin timidly looked around and scratched the back of his head as he replied, "Well it's just, you don't seem the type to be in Drama Club…I mean, you just, don't seem the type to-"

"I don't see why." Levi interrupted, "I've loved theater since I was young, so the instant I saw a Drama Club here at this school, I jumped at the opportunity. That's my story, what more do you want, blondie?"

"Stop calling him, 'blondie'." Eren protested as he clenched his bedsheets, "His name, is Armin."

Levi cast a glance in Eren's direction, and replied, "Is that so?" Levi scoffed a little bit, then inquired, "So what about the rest of you? You have names don't you?"

Mikasa spoke up and said, "Mikasa. Mikasa Ackerman. Eren's sister."

Levi cringed a little bit at the words _'Eren's sister'_, but tried not to let it show. Eren turned to Mikasa and said, "Well, not technically my sister. Just adopted."

"Adopted?" Levi's curiosity was peaked, as he stated, "So, you two aren't _technically _related?"

Eren turned to Levi, and replied, "Yeah. A few years ago, there was an…incident. I ended up saving Mikasa's life and that's when my father and mother decided to adopt her."

Levi took note of Eren's hesitation around the word, 'incident', and carried on, "So, Eren, Mikasa, Armin, will you take me up on my offer?"

Mikasa leaned in towards Levi and inquired, "Wait, you want all of us?"

"I want Eren." Levi replied curtly, "But I figure he won't do it unless you guys join in, so it looks like I have no choice."

Mikasa and Armin scowled at Levi's attitude, but Eren was surprisingly cheery. He perked up and answered, "Well, I don't see any reason why I shouldn't do it. Plus it might be fun! C'mon guys, it'll be fun!"

Armin turned to Eren with a deep sense of curiosity, and inquired, "Eren?…"

"Plus," Eren continued, "it'll be a character building experience! And Armin, you know you're not the best at public speaking, this'll help!"

"Eren, this is…" Mikasa lingered on her words before continuing her sentence, "so, unlike you."

Eren turned to Mikasa with a broad smile and replied, "Well, this guy did save me, and like I said, this should be fun!"

Levi visibly smiled, and Mikasa's horror only intensified as Levi threw his arm around Eren's shoulder and said, "I like your attitude, this will be…fun."

Armin joined in and threw his arm around Levi's shoulder, much to Levi's visible disgust, but he let it slide this once. Eren extended his hand to Mikasa and said, "C'mon Mikasa. For me?"

Mikasa blushed a little bit, but also felt a little bit of disgust. Regardless, she took Eren's hand and agreed, albeit a reluctant agreement. "J-just so you know," Mikasa stated as she turned her head to Levi, "I still have my reservations about you."

Levi nonchalantly nodded, and replied, "At least you acknowledge my existence."

Mikasa intently scowled again at Levi's ability to think of a proper and witty retort to everything. Once again she found herself questioning who Levi really was, and what he really wanted with Eren. But there wasn't much room for thought now, the decision had already been made.

Levi picked his feet up off of Eren's legs, and proudly stood up. "The Drama Club meets tomorrow afternoon after school at three o' clock sharp." Levi stated, "We'll be discussing our first play that we will put on for the entire of the student body." Levi began to exit and beckoned Armin and Mikasa to come with him, stating that Eren needed some bed rest alone. Eren concurred with Levi's assumption, and the crew left infirmary.

The instant everyone was gone, Eren laid back and stared intently up the ceiling, wondering what the hell he had gotten himself into. He didn't have much time to think though, as he heard the infirmary doors slide open, and someone walk in.

"Who is it?" Eren called out, as he took his eyes off of the ceiling and sat up to see who his visitor was. To Eren's surprise, it was a girl. She was wearing a simple dark brown sweatshirt, and Eren' thought he could see an orange shirt poking out from underneath the sweatshirt. Her pants were just black skinny jeans, that had a sophomore lanyard hanging out from the left pocket. Eren couldn't quite make out the name on them, but figured it didn't matter. Her hair was done up in a simple ponytail fashion, but was bumped up in the front so that her bangs hung down to just barely above her eyes. Her eyes were a light-grayish-green color, and she was blushing quite noticeably.

Eren broke the awkward silence, and said, "Who are you?"

The girl timidly raised up her head, and replied, "I-I-I'm Sasha Braus. A-a-and…"

Eren gestured for Sasha to continue her sentence as he said, in as gentle of a tone as he could, "Well, I'm Eren Yeager. Nice to meet you. Now, what exactly are you doing in my room? And more importantly, how did you know I was here?"

Sasha's face was now a pure shade of red, as she attempted to reply, only uttering stammering noises. Finally, she said something coherent. "W-well, I saw you get jumped by those two guys back there, and then that third guy came in and beat you up and knocked you out. I wanted to help, but I was too scared, and now you're all…" Sasha gestured to Eren's multiple bruises and wounds on his face, as well as the shoe print in the middle of his face where Levi held his shoe for a solid minute or two. Sasha seemed like she was about to cry as she continued, "So, I just wanted to come and see if you were okay…I felt that it was the least I could do, since I was too pathetic to help you in the first place…"

Eren tossed his bed sheet aside, as he got to his feet, clenching his stomach initially, remembering how painful Levi's foot had felt when he struck him. After a minute, he straightened up, and walked over to Sasha. Eren realized that he was a little taller then her, at least, just tall enough to have to look down a little bit when he spoke to her. He smiled, and said, "It's okay. I'm fine now, and Levi didn't do that much to me, at least, nothing I can't handle, so there's nothing really to worry about." Sasha breathed a sigh of relief, and then Eren grabbed her hand, and pulled her onto the bed. She was sprawled out at first, but quickly regained herself, and sat straight up. Eren walked back over to his bed, then sat down next to her.

Sasha could feel her heart racing at millions of miles per hour, but mustered up the will to speak, and said, "S-s-so," she began, "what did those guys want in the first place? And who were they?"

Eren looked over to Sasha, and replied, "Reiner Braun and Bertolt Hoover. Two seniors that are in my Biology 2 class. They sit next to me."

Sasha was puzzled, "So, what did they want with you?" Sasha inquired.

"Well, I'm the best in my class," Eren continued, "and they kind of suck at that class. So about a week into the class, they realized I had potential. So they cornered me after class one day, and said that I'd better let them cheat off of me on every test, or else. Well, today the exams took place, and this morning they told me they wanted me to fail the exam, so I could be held back, just for one more semester, so they could pass. After that, I'd be off the hook. Well, I can't do anything about it, and I didn't want to end up getting hurt, but here I am."

"Just, not by who you thought you'd get hurt by?" Sasha inquired.

"Yep." Eren replied. "It's kind of embarrassing on both ends of the deal if you think about it…" Eren chuckled a little bit.

Sasha was again vexed by Eren's words, "What do you mean?"

"Well," Eren explained, "it's embarrassing to me because, I got beat up in public by someone I've never met before in my life. But, it's embarrassing to Reiner and Bertolt because they just proved that they're not threats. They can't do anything because they're too afraid to do anything. Didn't you see how Reiner hesitated to stab me when I was perfectly open? Or how he refused to finish me off and instead ran off with Bertolt? They're pansies. Pathetic excuses for human beings, and too weak to even begin to entertain the idea of trying anything."

Sasha was terrified by how Eren's words had taken a dark turn.

But Eren quickly perked up and turned to Sasha with a smile and said, "Well, at least that's how Levi phrased it. I just figure that I don't have to worry about them anymore!"

Sasha breathed a sigh of relief, and then inquired, "So, what did he want?"

"What do you mean?" Eren replied.

"Well, he was just in here, wasn't he?" Sasha inquired, "I'm just curious as to what he wanted."

"Oh, that!" Eren replied, scratching the back of his neck. After a moment of embarrassment, he reached around in his pocket until he dug out the sheet of paper with the Drama Club audition form on it. He handed it to Sasha who unfolded it. "He just invited me to join the Drama Club and I accepted. That's all!"

Sasha stared intently at the sheet of paper. It seemed like you could see her excitement rising.

"Um…are you okay?" Eren inquired as he leaned in closer to Sasha.

Sasha tossed the paper to the ground and embraced Eren tightly, squealing out of joy the entire time. Eren had no idea what was happening, but decided to return the embrace and held Sasha tightly as well. After a minute or so, Sasha broke her embrace, and exclaimed, "Thank you!" over and over to Eren before she ran out of the infirmary, still squealing out of joy.

Eren fell back on his bed, sprawled out, his arms fully extended above his head. He thought to himself, _'What was that all about? Why was she yelling? And __**what in the ever loving fuck have I gotten myself into…**__'_

Eren fell asleep staring up at the infirmary ceiling, and woke up the next morning in his own bed, not sure of how he got there, but only knowing that he had a familiar scarf wrapped around his neck.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

The Drama Club room was in fact the entire 3rd floor of the northernmost wing. Everything up there was reserved for the purpose of theater. The classrooms up there used to be used for other electives until the school lost funding for them a few years back, so they abandoned the third floor. Up until roughly three years ago, when a group of students found the the third floor, investigated, petitioned, and eventually converted the entire 3rd floor into the Drama Club room. The various classrooms were filled with either props, costumes, or make up, and there was one huge gymnasium with a stage that the Club used to rehearse. Every other month or so, the Club would put on performances for the student body, but this year was different, as the seniors who were in charge of the club would be graduating, so the club would have to be put on hiatus until new, eligible seniors were determined. These plays would be the last few plays put on for a long time, so they had to be the best the club had to offer.

Eren, Mikasa, and Armin walked diligently (some reluctantly) up the stairs that led to the classroom where the club would be meeting initially. Afterwards, Levi had informed them that upon decision of the play they would be performing, individual rooms would be assigned for the people with their respective roles. Some would be in one room working on set design, some in one room with costumes, and so on and so forth. Upon the reaching of the classroom that was at the far west end of the floor, Mikasa grabbed Eren's arm and stated,

"Are you really sure about this, Eren?"

Eren broke his arm free and replied, "Mikasa, you've been asking me that ever since class ended. My response has always been the same, 'yes', I'm absolutely sure about this. Now relax! Look at Armin!"

Mikasa glanced over at Armin who was unusually happy. After seeing that, she abolished whatever minor apprehensions she had, and continued onward. When the crew opened the doors to the room, they were greeted by some familiar faces. First of all, everyone was up and around talking, so the room was relatively noisy, but not too noisy that you couldn't distinguish certain people's conversations. But, no matter.

The crew saw some people they knew, such as Jean, Connie, and Marco, who were over in the corner deep in conversation. Connie and Jean seemed to be arguing about something, and Marco was trying to offer some peer mediation, to no avail though. The group also saw Levi over in the corner with some other people who appeared to be seniors that were intently discussing something. The group quickly rushed through the other randoms that were scattered around the mostly barren classroom, save for a few chairs stacked up in the corners, a table or two that were next to the entry doors, and some cabinets that were mounted not he wall here and there, the room was pretty much empty. Kind of like an open dance hall or wrestling hall but without the mats; just shitty, shag carpeting and some linoleum here and there.

"Oi, Jean!" Eren called as he rushed over to Jean from across the room.

Jean turned from Connie and his' debacle to greet Eren. He waved a 'welcome' to Eren and Armin, then stood at immediate attention upon Mikasa getting within his vicinity. Mikasa acknowledged him, then joined in Eren's conversation. Jean's expression darkened as he awkwardly attempted to hold the conversation, but he had already completely forgotten what he was arguing about Connie with in the first place, and had diverted all of his attention on making a proper impression.

"S-so, Mikasa-" Jean began, but was interrupted by a rather loud, and tall blonde man who proclaimed,

"Alright, everyone! Grab a chair and get to the center of the room!"

Mikasa gave Jean a smile, and that was enough for him. Or was it? He looked around the room and saw everyone sitting in a circle, and he immediately thought, _'If I move fast enough, I can get a seat next to her!' _

Marco looked over to Jean, then to Mikasa, then back at Jean and gave Jean a pat on the back before going over to the corner of the room to grab a plastic chair. Jean gave a playful scowl to Marco, but then rushed to the corner of the room as well. He dashed to the center and approximated where Mikasa was going to set and threw his chair down there. He sat so smug and sure of himself, as he waited for Mikasa to sit down next to him. He heard the plastic chair hit the floor, and he turned to his right and said,

"Hey Mikasa-" but stopped himself when he realized he was face to face with none other than Ymir.

Ymir's face was stone cold as she uttered, "Don't compare me to her, cockroach." She then proceeded to smack Jean with such force that he literally fell off of his chair.

After getting back onto his chair, Jean inquired, "Ymir?! What're you doing here?"

"Are you really that forgetful?" Ymir replied as she leaned back in her chair.

Jean thought about what that meant for a minute, and then he remembered… "Wait," he began, "so that means…"

"Hey~ Ymir!" a melodic voice sung out from the other end of the room. Ymir and Jean looked over to see it was none other than Historia.

Ymir bolted up out of her seat and replied, "Historia!" her face painted with an enormous smile.

Historia ran over to Ymir as fast as she could, one arm was occupied by the plastic chair she was carrying, but the other was up above her head waving. When the two finally got close to each other, they embraced tightly, and again, Jean could hear the dramatic music crescendo-ing to it's peak. The couple gazed deeply into one another's eyes, and both blushed deeply before breaking the gaze and the embrace, and simply sat down next to each other.

"Oh, hey, you're the guy from yesterday," Historia said as she looked over at Jean, "Jean, right?"

Jean looked quickly over to Ymir who gave him the same death glare as yesterday. He acknowledged and simply replied, "Yeah, that's me." without making too much eye contact.

Historia smiled as she replied, "You remember me right?"

Jean tensed up and replied, "Of course, you're Historia."

_'Shit,' _Jean thought to himself, _'was that getting too friendly with her?' _he awaited the feeling of Ymir's boot on his face, but was surprisingly left unscathed. He looked over to Ymir to see that she had her arm thrown over Historia's shoulder.

"See, Historia?" Ymir stated matter-of-factly to Historia, "You _are _memorable!"

Historia blushed, both at Ymir's compliment, and at the fact that Ymir's arm was around her shoulder. "W-well, that doesn't count!" Historia retorted, "He just met me yesterday!"

"Um…" Jean interrupted, "what's that all about?"

Ymir turned her head to Jean and replied, "Oh, on our date yesterday," Historia and Ymir both blushed at the word 'date', "we got to talking and she thinks that she's not memorable. When in reality, she's the most memorable person to me!"

"Oh, stop with that!" Historia replied.

Ymir put both her hands on Historia's shoulders, pulled her in close, and said with a face that was painted with emotion, and a wonderful shade of crimson red, "I'll never stop with you."

The two leaned in a little closer, until they were touching noses. No one really knew what to say there, or what to do, but to those two, the rest of the world didn't exist; it was just, them.

They looked like they were about to go for it, but then an aloof, male voice called out, "Alright, everyone, listen up!"

The two shook themselves from it, and immediately turned their attention towards the man up front. However, Ymir still had her arm around Historia, and Historia's arm was also wrapped around tightly around Ymir's waist.

The man behind the voice was dressed classily, wearing a sweater vest, a cravat, dress khaki's, and black dress shoes that had been obviously meticulously polished. He also had ash-y blonde hair that was styled in an undercut. It looked almost as if he was trying to copy Levi.

"Now listen, my name is Oluo Bozado, I'm one of the seniors in charge of this club, you'll do well to remember that." Oluo stated in a curt and cold tone. After he finished his sentence, though, he was slapped on the back of the head by a girl who was a little shorter than him, but seemed to command more of a presence.

She was dressed in a tight, black, zip-up sweatshirt, with equally tight skinny jeans and combat boots. She also wore thick glasses, and her chestnut hair was tied up in a ponytail fashion, Eren thought it similar to Sasha's.

"Don't talk like that!" the woman stated as she stepped in front of Oluo, "You'll scare them off!" The woman bowed in apology to the crowd, and then said, "My name is Hange. Hange Zoë. I'm also a senior in charge here, and I hope you all have fun!"

"You really are something…" a man behind Hange said as he walked up and gave her a pat on the back. He was wearing a simple white and black striped v-neck t-shirt, jeans, and green Converse sneakers. His hair was short, black, and kept to a point on his head's top.

"Sorry about her, everyone." The man said as he waved his hands in front of himself and grinned in apology. "My name's Gunther Schultz, by the way, and I'm also a senior in charge of the club. I'm here for anything that you guys need or have questions about!"

"He's quite the personable one…" Eren whispered to Armin, who giggled a little bit in concurrence.

The group up front straightened up when they heard the clop of dress shoes at the front door. Everyone turned as well to see Levi with a large stack of papers in front of him, almost obscuring his face. He sat the stack on the table to the left of the entry doors, and griped, "Jeez, Hange, you shitty four-eyes, if you're the one who wanted these printed out why did _I_ have to go all the way to the Eastern wing and get these?"

The crowed sighed at Levi's complaint, and returned their information to the front of the room. Hange scratched the back of her neck and replied, "Ha ha…about that…well…um…"

Levi sighed and walked up to the front of the room, giving the mass of students gathered a casual glance, only showing emotion upon facing Eren and company. He cracked a brief smile, but a smile nonetheless, and then continued his saunter up to the front of the room, undaunted by the glaring height differences he faced when compared to the other seniors. Everyone else noticed too, but when everyone glanced over to Eren, who still bore scars and bruises from his first encounter with Levi, they decided to refrain from commenting about his height. It was difficult though, since the only people in the room who stood shorter than Levi were Connie, Historia, and this shy reddish-orange haired girl who was over in the corner along with two other guys.

One guy was wearing a tight, green v-neck t-shirt with jeans and slip-on shoes. He also had a small beard that was just on the tip of his chin, blonde hair which had a middle parting and a ponytail folded at the back.

The other guy was extremely tall, taller than even Bertolt (who towered over Eren at an impressive 6'1"), and appeared very strongly built. He wore a tight sweatshirt jacket, despite it all, along with jeans and navy blue Converse sneakers. His hair was blonde, the bangs of which were parted down the middle, and he had a mustache and a beard.

Levi began to talk about how this was the last year the Drama Club was going to be around until it went on hiatus for a year or two and eligible seniors were selected, and basically everything that he had already told Eren and company yesterday.

While Levi spieled, Armin looked onward at the group up at the front of the room, and his expression seemed troubled. Eren took notice, and whispered to Armin, "What's wrong?"

Armin leaned in closer to Eren, and whispered in his ear, "Well, remember how Levi said he was the Vice President?"

"Yeah…" Eren shrugged in reply, "so what?"

"Well, it may be nothing…" Armin replied, "but I just got to thinking…who's the President?"

Eren was about to reply, but then he thought about it himself. He never really asked Levi anything about that, and he was about to raise his hand when Levi proclaimed,

"…and now, our Club President will talk to you about our first play! Please welcome, Club President Erwin Smith!"

Upon Levi's words, the doors to the room swung open, and in walked a tall blonde man. He was wearing a casual blazer with a white v-neck tee underneath that accentuated his collar bones nicely, jeans that were tattered slightly, and casual orange Converse sneakers. He had quite the commanding presence, and was quite tall, appearing to be about 6'3" or so, with icy blue eyes, blonde hair that was well kept and neatly parted to the left side, and thick, bushy eyebrows. Again, everyone noticed the eyebrows, and some murmurs erupted this time, but they were quickly silenced by Erwin who spoke up and stated,

"Looks like I got here right on time, eh?"

Levi grimaced a little at Erwin, and replied, "With the way you deliberately went out of your way to plan your 'activities', you knew you would arrive right as I said that." He tightened the cufflink on the right cuff of his suit jacket as he stated, "Honestly I'm not impressed, but a few people appear to be, so I'll let it slide."

Erwin chuckled as he walked towards the front of the room, nodding at Levi who acknowledged the formality by returning his own nod and then stood next to Erwin as he spoke to the members of the club.

"Now, everyone," Erwin began, "Levi has already told you about the current state of affairs of the club. And I don't pertain to know much, but what I do know is that everyone here has the potential to be a fantastic actor or actress, but you can't quite fully show that ability if your bound and bridled by the chains of restriction, now can you?"

The students nodded their heads in agreement, and several 'Yeah!'s erupted from here and there as Erwin continued, "Therefore, I've had Hange here mock up and print out a list of all of the available plays that we can do this year. Levi graciously set them down over by the doorway, everyone grab a sheet, then return here, and we shall continue."

The students all slowly rose out of their chairs, some of them stretched due to the length that they had been sitting, others were as energetic as ever, and dashed onwards to the table by the doors. Eren was one of those students, not hesitating for a moment as he broke away from Mikasa, Armin, Jean and the rest. When he reached the table, it was crowded, but he managed to reach the actual table itself through the crowd (after it had thinned significantly, of course) and grabbed at a sheet right as someone else's hand fell on top of Eren's. Eren blushed for a minute out of embarrassment, as he began to utter an apology, until he looked and saw who the hand belonged to. There was no doubt that this hand was a feminine hand, Eren knew that from the moment he made contact with it, but, never thought it would be the feminine hand of none other than Sasha Braus. The two gazed intently at each other for a moment, their eyes locked tightly, an no one had the key except for them.

Well, after Eren's face finished becoming tinted fully beet red, he drew his hand back and stammered out, "S-Sasha?!"

Sasha proudly replied, "Yep!" with a broad smile and a deep blush of her own as she held and caressed her hand where Eren hand previously had his.

"Hey!…Fancy seeing you here! Ha ha ha…" Eren awkwardly said as he fumbled to grab a sheet of paper, eventually retrieving it, albeit crumpled.

Sasha looked confused, as she stated, "Hm? I don't see why, don't you remember yesterday?" as she finished her sentence, she moved in closer to Eren.

Eren moved back a little, and then thought back to yesterday in the infirmary.

_'Come to think of it,' _he thought to himself, _'she did seem pretty excited when I said I was in the Drama Club…'_ as he remembered Sasha's embrace and her repeated praises and thanks that she exclaimed when she was running out of the infirmary.

"So, you'll be in this Club too?" Eren meekly stated as he began to attempt to work his way back to the circle.

Sasha grabbed Eren's arm and replied, "Yep! And listen, there's something I need to tell you, ok?"

Eren tried to pull away from Sasha's grasp, to no avail. This girl had a death lock and wasn't about to let go. Eren turned his head to see Sasha' face was painted a pure crimson red, as she began to stammer out the words,

"I l….I li…" before Sasha could finish her sentence, Jean came over to Eren and slapped him on the back stating in a jocular tone,

"Eren, what did I tell you about getting mixed up with yandere chicks?"

Both Eren and Sasha's faces were flushed with a deep crimson red now, but Eren's face was more of one of playful anger at Jean.

"So," Jean began as he went over and grabbed a sheet of paper, "who is your little lady friend?"

Both Eren and Sasha straightened up at that comment, but Sasha still didn't let go of Eren's arm.

"Well, Jean," Eren replied, "this is Sasha Braus." he gestured to Sasha who was, at the moment, halfway cowering behind Eren, and halfway out in the open, "I met her yesterday at the infirmary when she came to check on me. Something I might add, you didn't do."

Jean tensed up at Eren's cockiness, and replied, "Ah, you didn't need it. It was nothing you couldn't handle…"

"Love ya too, big guy!" Eren replied as he threw his spare arm around Jean's shoulder and gave him his signature, self-confident grin, and Jean couldn't help but flash one right back at the little pipsqueak. Sasha also gave a giggle at the whole situation, which caused the rest of the trio to burst out laughing as they headed back to the circle. Sasha even negotiated with Armin to switch her seats so that she could sit next to Eren, much to Mikasa's discontent, but she didn't let it show.

Erwin cleared his throat, and continued with his speech, "Right, well, if everyone would look at your sheet of paper. You'll see the names of all of the plays we are capable of doing this year. What we will do is select the top 3 and perform them in the coming months. Our first play is set to be performed on Valentine's Day, February 14th, in just three weeks!"

The mass of students instantly launched into a fits of 'Is he insane?' and 'Three weeks…' combined with the occasional 'Is he fucking kidding us?…'.

The crowd fell silent though, at the sound of a dress shoe forcefully hitting the linoleum up where the seniors were standing. It's owner: Levi.

Hange stepped forward and said, "Look, I know Erwin sounds insane, but I know you can all do this!" her eyes showed that she was wrought with regret at what she had just said, and anyone with a pair of their own could tell, but Hange still hoped no one would notice.

Gunther spoke up as well, saying, "Yeah! Look, I know it won't be easy, but you guys are going to pick the play! This'll be something that everyone wants to do!"

"Leave if you must," Oluo casually said as he dusted off his cravat, "it's no skin off my nose…" he was reprimanded with a thump on the back of the head by Hange, who still maintained her original pose.

By now, students had begun to pack up and go for the doors; some were still around, such as Jean, Marco, Historia, Ymir, Connie, and Sasha, but the majority of the rest of the students had begun to leave. Some were already at the door when Eren shot out of his chair and exclaimed,

"**Cowards!**" at the top of his lungs.

The students who were packing up all froze and turned to Eren.

"First of all," Eren began, his voice flushed with force and power, "why would you sign up for something that you knew would be intense labor when you weren't prepared to take on that work load? And second, what is drama without drama? Three weeks? Fie on three weeks! If it were me in charge, I'd say we'd get it done in two, set, costumes and all!" Erwin was about to make a motion to stop Eren, but Levi shot his hand up to Erwin's chest to stop him from going any further. Erwin acknowledged Levi's actions, and listened onwards as Eren continued, "And third, this is a kick in the face to these seniors! They went out of their way to set all of this up for you, Levi even walked all the way from the Eastern wing and back, toting that heavy stack of papers, many of which, you've thrown on the ground! What is the point of them doing work, when it's all wasted on a bunch of worthless, _unambitious, __**COWARDS!**_"

Eren's last 'cowards' resonated throughout the entire room, and seemed to permeate the very fibers of everyone's beings. No one said or did anything. Everyone was absolutely speechless at how they'd been called out by Eren of all people.

"So…" Eren began, his voice as powerful as ever, "are you going to prove your worth and take action? _Or are you not even worth their time?_"

After a minute of silence, Levi walked over to Eren and lifted up his leg. It appeared as though he was about to kick the back of Eren's kneecap in to put him into submission, but instead, he put his foot on Eren's chair and proclaimed, "He's right, you know?"

A collective gasp came over the crowd (even the seniors) as they realized that Levi was actually agreeing with someone who wasn't Erwin, Hange, or any of the other seniors in the club.

"You're pathetic if you think this'll be easy." Levi continued, "And you're not worth any of our time if you just wanted to be here to slack, or enjoy the company of your friends. This really is a shitty group…"

Eren's words had been the rubbing alcohol, and Levi's words were the shot that pierced the flesh of the many students there that day. Slowly but surely, the students that had been at the door, about to leave, herded back in, picking their chairs back up from the corner of the room, and dragging them back to the center to form a circle.

Levi resumed his original position next to Erwin, as Erwin continued where he left off. "As I was saying, you will select your top three choices from the list here, once selected, you will hand them into one of the other seniors in charge over there. Either Eld," Erwin gestured to the blonde man over in the corner with the tied-back ponytail, "Petra," Erwin gestured to the girl with the reddish-orange hair, "or Mike." and Erwin gave a final gesture to the tallest of the group there.

Out of the crowd, a random male student raised his hand. "Yes, you?" Erwin said as he pointed to the male student.

"Hey, my name's Gerico," the male student stated, "and the tall guy there, Mike?"

"Yes, what about him?" Erwin inquired.

"He smelled me when I walked in here." Gerico replied. "In fact, he did that to most of us here."

The crowd gave replied of agreement and Erwin calmed them down with a hand gesture before replying, "Of course he did."

The students were generally, if not entirely, confused, as they replied, "What?" in unison.

"Allow me to explain," Erwin began, "Mike over there has an extremely keen olfactory sense, so, as a precaution, when he first meets people, he smells them to determine what he should think of them. It's become a pretty normal occurrence around here, but we probably should've warned you about that beforehand; sorry."

The crowd gave various responses of agreement to Erwin's statement, and then quieted down as Erwin declared, "Alright everyone, begin voting! We finalize the plays and assign roles tomorrow!"

Everyone hustled and bustled as they whipped out their pencils and selected from the vast majority of plays available. Pieces from Shakespeare dominated this play list, but some from other play writes such as Aeschylus and Agatha Christie showed up here and there. There were also play adaptations of popular books, such as _Little Women_ and _Gone With The Wind_ among others.

Eren gazed down intently at the list, unsure of what half of these works were about, but he randomly selected 3 as he was told and handed his paper into Mike, the sniffy one. Mike gave Eren a once over, and then smelled Eren again, stating that he,

"Liked his smell." and then accepted Eren's list.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

After the majority of people had left the club room, the only people that remained really were the seniors, and the motley crew of Eren, Mikasa, Armin, Jean, Sasha, Connie, Marco, Ymir, and Historia.

Jean stretched himself out and said to the group as they began to walk out, "You guys wanna go get something to eat? It is about that time."

The group was in general agreement at Jean's suggestion, but started getting in a veritable war about where they were going to go. Some people wanted to go to a restaurant, others wanted to get pizza instead. While the others left the room, deep in discussion over what they should eat, Erwin called to Eren, saying,

"Eren, hold back a minute, the seniors want to have a word with you."

Eren was hesitant at first, and couldn't really break free of the grasp that both Mikasa and Sasha had on him. But, thanks to a little extra Armin elbow grease, Eren shook his way loose and told the crew that he would meet up with them out front.

Once the doors were closed, Erwin put his arm around Eren's shoulder and guided him over to the rest of the seniors. From left to right, it was Levi, Hange, Petra, Eld, Mike, Oluo, and Gunther.

"They have something they would like to say to you." Erwin stated as he gave a nod of encouragement to the group.

The instant that nod was given, all affectionate hell broke loose. Hange and Petra embraced Eren tightly, while Gunther, Eld, Mike, and even Oluo all huddled around Eren and made it a group hug. All the while, the seniors were crying out, "Thank you, thank you!" and "Way to keep it together, kid!"

Eren replied, "Thanks, but it was nothing really. It was just something I was taught."

"Regardless," Hange replied, "it saved us, and the Drama Club's future. For that, we owe you one!"

"Oh yeah, big time!" Mike added in as he got in close and inhaled Eren's scent.

"Stop that…" Eren playfully moaned as he ducked out from underneath Mike's grasp.

"Hey, I can't help it!" Mike replied as he shrugged, "The kids' got a great scent! I mean, smell him! Even his hair! What do you use in your hair? Jasmine?"

"Oh, shut up!" Eren replied in a jocular tone.

Hange leaned in close to Eren and proceeded to smell his hair deeply.

Eren sprang back and exclaimed, "Hange, you too?!"

"Yep, that's definitely Jasmine." Hange reassured Mike as the rest of the seniors laughed, even Erwin. Well, not all the seniors…

All this time, Levi had been sitting back on a chair, his unflappable demeanor the same as ever. Eren noticed this and broke away from the seniors for a minute, and proceeded to walk over to Levi. Levi acknowledged his presence, and rose out of his chair.

"What is it-" Levi began to ask but was interrupted by Eren giving him a tight, warm, hug. Everyone in the room was taken aback by the whole ordeal, and the rest of the seniors just sat back and waited for Eren to get kicked right in the crotch. Eld even covered Petra's eyes with his hands to protect her from the screams he thought she was about to hear.

Levi gave his usual unemotional look to Eren, as he did to everyone else, and after Eren had been there for a second or two, Levi actually _returned the embrace_.

This time, all of the seniors, even Erwin, had their collective jaws drop to the floor.

Eren broke the silence and whispered to Levi, "Thank you. For everything."

Levi, who had his face buried in Eren's shoulder, simply replied, "It was my…pleasure…" and with that he only continued to hold Eren tighter.

After a minute or so, Mike said, "Aww, I can't resist, group hug everyone, group hug!" to which everyone gave a few "Awws!" and rushed onwards towards Eren and Levi.

Levi unburied his head from Eren's shoulders and shot the seniors an icy glare, much like the way a predator looks at another when it's defending its newly captured prey, but that didn't deter the rest of the seniors as they all huddled an and practically crushed Eren and Levi in the middle.

"You absolute fucking idiots…" Levi stated quite loudly. But there was no stopping this group hug, at least for awhile.

"Alright," Erwin proudly stated as he threw his hand in the middle of everyone in the group hug, "let's make this the best Drama Club the school has ever seen!"

The group collectively (even Levi) threw their hand in on top of Erwin's and counted out, "One, two, three, **DRAMA CLUB!**" and everyone threw their hands up in the air on the words 'Drama Club'.

After Eren was done talking with the seniors, he left the Drama Club room and began to walk out of the Northern wing. Unfortunately there weren't any elevators so he was stuck using the plain old stairs. As he rounded the corner to the second floor, he was met with another person who was coming up the stairs slamming themselves into Eren. After picking himself up, and berating the stranger for not looking where they were going, he realized who it was. Sasha.

"S-Sasha?" Eren said, flabbergasted. He extended his hand to help Sasha pick herself up, which Sasha gladly accepted.

She dusted herself off before replying, "Yeah, you were taking awhile, and everyone was getting impatient, so they sent me up to check on you."

Eren looked around for a clock, finally found one, and realized that he had been in the room there for roughly 20 minutes. "Whoa! Sorry!" Eren exclaimed as he scratched the nape of his neck out of embarrassment. Eren looked back at Sasha with his glimmering emerald green eyes, and stated, "Hey, are you alright? Your face is entirely red."

Sasha touched her face and felt the heat of embarrassment coming from her. She realized the source after a minute or two. Eren was still holding her hand this entire time. She wanted to break free of his grasp, but at the same time, she wanted him to hold on to her like this, but closer, and tighter. Sasha could only squeal out of delight and embarrassment.

Eren cocked his head to the side, and then _he _realized that he was still holding Sasha's hand. He tried to break free but this time Sasha knew a good thing when she had it, and wasn't about to let it go. Eren awkwardly laughed and said, "Um, we should probably get going, the others are gonna get worried-"

"**No**" Sasha sharply interrupted, much to Eren's surprise. After a moment of silence, Sasha said, "Um, could we…walk there…like this?…"

If Eren wasn't red before, he was sure as hell red now. "Um, uh…" He unsurely replied.

_'Shit, shit, shit…' _Eren thought to himself, _'What am I gonna do?…Well, would it really be that bad if did hold her hand? I mean, it's not like we're going out or anything like that! But she is kind of cute…Okay, this is not the time Eren, FOCUS.'_

Eren shook his head from side to side, and stated firmly, "Yeah…" he tightened his grasp on Sasha's hand, and intertwined their fingers, saying, "let's go."

Sasha was over the top elated, and could barely contain herself. As the two continued down the stairs, Sasha thought to herself,

_'Eren…_

_I love you...'_

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

_A/N: Well, that was a doozy. With Sasha now at term with her feelings, Eren and company now in the Drama Club, and Levi being unusually soft, the question on everyone's mind is…_

"Where are we going to go to eat?!"

_But the question on your mind probably is, "How is this going to turn out?", well, there's only one way to find out, wait until next Sunday, when the next chapter of 'High School Daze', will release!_

_Thanks for reading, and I would __**really **__appreciate it if you took the time to review this story and leave your comments on how the story is shaping up so far! Also, if you want to keep up with the story, you could favorite it and follow it so you can keep up with updates on it! But, even if you don't, I'll still love you 3_

_Thank you for your continued support, everyone who reads this, and I'll see you next week!_


	3. Aiaigasas and Dinner!

_A/N: _"What the fuck am I doing here?…"

_Oh, hey Levi! What's up?_

*sigh* "What do you want?"

_Hey, cheer up; I invited you here so you could do the A/N!_

"And why exactly would I want to do that?"

_Well…I have fun doing it!_

"I don't see how, your workplace is a mess. Look at this! Your computer screen is filthy,"

_I just cleaned it yesterday!_

"there are empty cans everywhere,"

_Since when does one Snapple bottle constitute a mess?_

"and you're no worse for wear yourself…"

_I should've asked Eren to do this…_

*raises eyebrow* "Hm? Eren?"

_Yeah, why does it matter?_

"It doesn't. Continue with your shitty A/N."

_Thank-wait, what? Nevermind. Anyways, thanks for the support you guys are giving to this fiction! I really do love doing this for you guys and girls, and I hope you love it equally as much!_

"Kiss ass…"

_Shut up! Now, as I was about to say, welcome to Chapter 3 of "__**High School Daze**__"! The Drama Club looks promising, and its members could best be described as…interesting. But will they decide on a play? Will Sasha ever tell Eren how she feels? And what exactly did they all have to eat after the first meeting? These answers and more, coming at you right now! _

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

The crew all impatiently awaited Eren and Sasha's return as they sat outside the school's front entrance. The front was really nothing other than a parking lot with a sign that displayed announcements of upcoming events, and one large boulder that students often sat around on on both days of school and days they had off. Sometimes, students even carved little messages into the rock; some crude, some encouraging, some disrespectful, and some heartwarming and adorable. But today, there was no graffiti to be made by this crew, no, as of current, it was their resting spot.

As they waited, a light snow began to fall, and snow began to pile up on top of the boulder, adding to what was already there. Armin always bore a certain fascination with snowflakes, mainly because of their vast diversity, and attempting to determine how it's possible for two to never be alike, no matter what. Each time he attempted to catch one in his hand and show Jean, either Jean would sigh and blow it away, or it would melt in Armin's hand before he could show them. While he feebly continued that, Marco was intensely lecturing Connie and Mikasa on the proper way to make a snowball, occasionally throwing one of his examples at his one of his pupils' face, eliciting the same response from said pupil. While this was happening, Ymir was relaxing, leaning back on the boulder with her headphones on. She was sharpening a rock on another rock for some odd reason, but since it was Ymir, no one really argued unless they wanted to risk broken limbs. No one had seen hide nor hair of Historia for a while now. She had said that she wanted to go back inside to use the bathroom, but that was five minutes ago. And while people were wondering, they began to ponder Sasha's whereabouts. She had been gone far longer than Historia, but at least she had somewhat of an excuse.

After it had been a grand total of 20 minutes, Mikasa turned her back to Marco as he was mid-sentence.

"As you can see, if you pack it like this-" Marco was saying until he was unceremoniously replied to by Mikasa's coated back, "Hey! This is important…" Marco whined, but Mikasa just turned a deaf ear and began to walk away. Armin saw that she had begun to walk towards the school entrance, and rushed away from Jean, who breathed a sigh of relief that he would finally have peace and quiet.

Armin grabbed Mikasa by the arm and said, "Wait, Mikasa!"

Mikasa stopped upon Armin making contact with her arm, turned around, and said, "What?"

"Look," Armin began, still holding tight to Mikasa's arm, "I know you're concerned about Eren, but Sasha has it under control. She'll be back soon enough, just watch!"

Mikasa hesitated for a moment, then shook her arm free from Armin, then began to walk back over to Marco. As the two were returning, one of the entrance doors swung open. Mikasa's expression lit up as she eagerly turned around to see who was there.

"Er-" Mikasa began to exclaim, but she cut herself off as she saw who was actually standing in the doorway: Historia.

Historia stood outside of the doors, carrying several heavy blankets. She cocked her head to the side and inquired, "What were you saying, Mikasa?"

Mikasa turned away from Historia and replied, "It's nothing…" she observed the inordinately large quantity of blankets that Historia had and stated, "What bathroom did you go to?"

Historia blushed a little bit, and then replied, "W-well, I figured everyone was getting cold out here, so on my way back from the bathroom," Historia laid the blankets down on the ground, "I got these out of the main office."

Jean got up from where he was sitting, walked over to where Armin, Mikasa, and Historia were and inquired, "Wait, how did you get these out of the office? Don't they lock up at 3?"

Historia reached into her pocket, and displayed a keychain. "They gave me a spare key awhile ago because they trusted me." She shoved the keychain back into the pocket of her jacket as the group formed a line in front of her and she began to distribute blankets. A collective buzz of "Thank you, Historia" and "Historia's the greatest!" erupted over the crew as they snuggled up somewhere, each with their own respective blankets. They all quickly realized that the boulder was the comfiest thing to lean up against, as the sign out front wasn't exactly the picture of cleanliness. When Ymir came up (she was the last in line), Historia realized something.

"Aww!" Historia moaned as she handed Ymir her blanket.

"What is it, sweet cheeks?" Ymir inquired.

"Sweet cheeks?…" Connie mumbled to himself from over where he was. He turned to Marco and Jean, seeking clarity. Marco just shrugged and buried his face in his blanket. Jean was about to speak, but felt that he should just let the situation play out as it was.

Historia blushed at Ymir's newly appointed nickname for her, but replied, "Well, it seems that you got the last blanket. I forgot to get one for myself." Historia laughed to herself, but was cut short by Ymir grabbing her hand.

Ymir smiled a broad smile and said, "Then it looks like we'll have to share it!"

Historia's face was pure red by now, and she was so steaming with the heat of embarrassment and some other emotion that no one could really determine at the immediate moment, that she almost melted the snow that was piling up around her.

Ymir dragged Historia over to the rock, then wrapped the blanket tightly around the two. In the position they had to be in in order for both of them to be adequately covered by the blanket, Historia was on Ymir's lap, laying in a position that put their heads right next to each other. Ymir had her arms wrapped around Historia's waist, and was snuggling her head into Historia's shoulder and up against her head and even nibbled at her ear a little bit. Historia was a little overwhelmed by the situation, but eventually returned the favor, even playfully nibbling at Ymir's ear herself. After a minute or two of that, they began to intently stare into each other's eyes, their faces whole new shades of red, and their noses touching. They eskimo kissed, and Ymir began to move in even closer. Historia followed suit and just before their lips touched, the doors to the school swung open and Eren called out,

"Sorry we're late!" as be burst through the doors with Sasha in tow, still holding her hand.

Mikasa shot straight for the school doors, Jean sighed, then chuckled a little to himself as he beckoned for Armin to accompany him to the school's doors. Connie and Marco brightened up, and waved to Eren who returned the courtesy. Ymir seemed kind of gloomy, but then Historia whispered to her,

"We'll just hang out here while they take care of that." then embraced Ymir tightly and buried her head in Ymir's chest.

Ymir was flushed with emotion, and didn't hesitate one bit. She held Historia as tightly as she possibly could, and cherished every moment of it.

As Mikasa ran up to Eren, she noticed that Sasha and him were holding hands, but didn't say anything about it. Instead, she exchanged formalities with Sasha, and then inquired, "So, what took so long?"

Sasha's face was instantly flushed a new shade of red, as she stammered, "W-w-well, um…"

Eren noticed Sasha's panic, and scrambled to formulate and excuse. "My talk with the Drama Club seniors ran later than it should have, and truth be told, Sasha got a little sidetracked while she was trying to find me."

Sasha shot a mean look at Eren, but after examining his face, she realized what he was up to, and played along. "Yeah," she began, "I went to my locker to get my English textbook, because I remembered that we were going to have a quiz, but it ended up not being there. I must've left it in the classroom again, silly me!"

Mikasa cast a dark glare at the two, but replied, "Well…if you say so…"

Eren nervously giggled, and then replied, "So…where are we going to eat?"

The group all looked at each other and then Armin stated, "Huh, you know…"

"We never actually thought about that, come to think of it." Jean stated.

"Well, we _kind of _discussed it." Marco said. "Well, actually, we argued about it for five minutes and then just ended up out here and split into our separate groups."

"Yeah, that was kind of weird." Connie added.

"So…" Jean began as he gazed around at the group, "should we decide on something, or…?"

The group collectively shrugged, all except for Ymir and Historia; to them, the rest of the world didn't exist, it was only them.

Eren laughed at the group's indecisiveness, and then said, "I have an idea."

The group turned to Eren, and Jean scoffed, "Oh boy, Eren's got a plan. Watch out people, Yeager _actually thought_."

Sasha scowled at Jean, and began to walk towards him, but Eren grabbed her arm before she was about to do anything. Sasha looked confused, but Eren stated,

"Don't worry, he does this to me all the time. It's just our relationship."

Eren smiled at Jean, who smiled back, but rolled his eyes as well, and muttered, "You're a fucking idiot…"

Sasha calmed down and replied, "Oh…ok good!" with a hearty smile. She then grabbed Eren's hand, intertwined their fingers, and snuggled up tightly against him. The rest of the motley crew took notice, Mikasa especially. Eren couldn't actually see the dark aura emanating from Mikasa, but he could sure as hell feel it. He panicked and tried to break free of Sasha's hold, as he stammered out,

"Uh S-Sasha, ha ha, what're you doing?"

Sasha looked up at Eren as she laid her head on his shoulder and inquired, "Oh, is there something wrong with what I'm doing?"

Mikasa began to walk towards Eren and Sasha, menacingly. Eren shot a look to Armin and Jean who immediately restrained her, and pulled her back away from the couple. Eren gave a look that said, 'Thanks' as he turned to Sasha and replied,

"W-well…no, not necessarily but-"

Sasha cut him off mid sentence and said, "Good!" as she proceeded to hold Eren tighter.

Needless to say, Eren was confused to all hell, but still managed to get his wits about him enough to speak. "Oh y-yeah," Eren began, "My idea. So I was thinking we could go to-"

"Oi." A voice called from behind the crew. They all turned to see who it was and lo and behold, standing outside of the school's doors in a slimming black parka was none other than Levi.

"L-Levi?" Eren inquired in an extremely surprised tone. "Wh-what are you doing here? Don't you have things to do with the Drama Club?"

"And it's good to see you too…" Levi mused as he walked towards Eren and Sasha. "What are you all up to?" Levi inquired of the crew as he continued his walk.

"Oh, uh, well," Marco began, "We were actually just deciding on where to go to eat."

"Y-yeah." Connie stuttered, "A-and Eren said he had an idea."

Levi finally reached his destination: Eren's left side, the side not occupied by Sasha. "Figures," Levi began, "Eren would be the one to come up with something." He turned his head towards Eren and smiled. It was faint, but it was there, albeit for a split second. Eren caught Levi's smile, and shot one right back at him, making Levi's demeanor almost cheerful.

"Wait, this still doesn't answer Eren's question," Jean interjected, still holding onto a writhing Mikasa with Armin, "don't you have things to do with the Drama Club?"

Levi turned his gaze to Jean, who instantly felt the chill of Levi's piercing emerald eyes. "They can handle it on their own." Levi replied, "Plus it's just counting votes, something Four Eyes and the rest can't possibly mess up."

"'Four Eyes'?" Armin muttered.

"Hange." Levi replied as he rolled his eyes out of pure disgust. Armin nodded in acknowledgement of Levi's comment. Levi then proceeded to turn to the rest of the group and stated, "In any event, _I _have an idea."

The group all turned to Levi with looks of pure amazement. Mikasa even stopped fighting Jean and Armin's grasp out of pure shock. Ymir and Historia even stopped their snuggle-fest to look over at the situation at hand.

"What?" Levi inquired of the crew as he gazed at their faces, "I can't have ideas?"

"W-well, no it's not that." Jean spoke up, "It's just that, you never struck us as the type to hang out with people below you."

Levi raised an eyebrow at Jean and replied, "Normally the only people I'll hang out with are the other seniors in the Drama Club, but something about you guys…intrigues me. So you shouldn't be surprised."

Jean drew back a little bit in unsureness and replied, "Oh…ok? I guess?"

Levi nodded at Jean and stated, "Besides, it's what a good Vice President should do. Get acclimated with his club members slash friends."

The group awkwardly nodded in agreement and then Jean spoke up, yet again, and inquired, "So what's your idea?"

"I know somewhere we can go," Levi began, "it's a little out of the way hole-in-the-wall type restaurant that not many people know about. They serve most anything there, so it should please everyone."

The crew exchanged looks with one another, their faces painted with uncertainty. It was Eren this time who spoke up and said, "C'mon guys, Levi's recommending it, it _has_ to be good!"

Levi turned his head towards Eren and gazed onward at him as the rest of the crew began to perk up a little.

"I'm willing to do it if you're willing to do it, Eren." Mikasa added as she looked at Eren and smiled.

Eren returned a determined smile and said, "Whaddya say, guys? You in?"

"Count me in." Jean stated as he grinned at Eren.

"Count me in, too!" Armin added.

"We're in." Ymir and Historia said in unison, blushing at the fact that they had said it in unison.

"Count us in, as well." Connie and Marco added.

Eren looked down at Sasha who was still clinging tightly to him, and inquired of her, "What about you, Sasha?"

Sasha turned her face up towards Eren and replied, "I'd go anywhere with you, Eren." with a broad smile.

Eren's face was flushed pure red from that comment, but a sudden sharp pain that Eren identified to be Levi's elbow brought him back to reality. He gave Levi a look that said, 'Thanks', to which Levi gave his normal, emotionless glare that, somehow, seemed to have a little emotion in it.

"Ok, wait again," Jean interjected.

"God damn, you're pessimistic…" Levi muttered.

"I heard that!" Jean exclaimed, then straightened himself out and stated, "Transportation. Who's going to drive?"

"Don't you all have cars?" Levi inquired.

"Mikasa and I live within walking distance of here." Eren replied. "So do Jean, Connie, and Marco."

"I normally walk to Historia's house," Ymir stated, "and then we walk to school together from there."

"And I ride a bus to get from downtown to within walking distance." Sasha added.

"Honestly…" Levi sighed to himself as he began to reach around in his pocket. After a second he pulled out his senior lanyard that had some keys attached to it. "I have the keys to the van that we normally use to transport equipment and things for the Drama Club," Levi stated, "but this once, we can use it for leisure."

The group cheered on Levi as he took a formal bow and said, "Thank you, thank you." After ending his bow, he stood up straight and said, "I'll go out back and get the van, you all wait here."

"Gotcha!" Eren replied as he struck a thumbs up pose.

Levi nodded at Eren, and then walked back into the school, destined for the parking lot.

The crew sat around for a few minutes, anxiously awaiting Levi's arrival, and still snuggled tightly in their blankets. After awhile, Ymir broke the silence when she noticed something.

"Hey, over here!" Ymir called out to the group. They turned their gaze over to Ymir, who still had Historia on her lap, but was gazing at the boulder instead of into Historia's eyes. "I found something!"

"What is it?" Jean inquired as he got up and out from under his blanket to go over to Ymir's location.

"We found something." Historia reiterated.

"What, exactly did you find?" Marco inquired as he walked over with Connie, Mikasa, and the rest of the group.

"Look." Ymir replied as she pointed to something engraved in the boulder. What she was pointing to was a small drawing. It appeared to be a stick figure-esque umbrella (A simple triangle on top of a stick), but it also had a heart drawn on top of it. And on the left and right side of the umbrella's handle, there were two names written: Anabeth on the left, and Percy on the right.

"What is this?" Historia inquired as she further examined the odd drawing.

Marco intently gazed at the etching for a minute, then smacked his fist into the palm of his hand and exclaimed, "Oh! I know what this is!"

"Then would you mind explaining what the fuck this is?" Connie inquired of Marco.

"It's an Aiaigasa." Marco explained, "I learned about these in my A.P. World History class. In Japan, a couple's name or the name of one's crush is written underneath one of these graffiti umbrellas in the hopes that their love comes to fruition."

"So you're saying," Jean began, "that if I wrote the name of my crush under one of these things, if I had one of course, then it would come true?"

"That's the superstition." Marco replied.

"Hey, Ymir," Historia began as she turned to Ymir, "don't you have that rock from earlier?"

"Oh, the one I was sharpening?" Ymir inquired as she turned to Historia.

"Yeah." Historia replied. "Where is it?"

Ymir fiddled around on the ground next to her until she found the rock from earlier. It had been sharpened now to that of a chisel, how that happened, no one was really sure. "Got it." Ymir stated as she held up the rock, "Why did you want it in the first place, sweet cheeks?" Ymir asked as she turned to Historia.

"Again with the 'sweet cheeks' stuff…?" Connie mumbled to himself. Ymir shot him a look that shut up his thoughts instantly.

Historia was blushing deeply as she replied, "W-well, I was thinking that it would be a cool memory for all of us if we each made one of these Aiaigasa things. Don't you guys?" Historia turned to the rest of the crew with pleading eyes upon the end of her inquiry.

The group exchanged looks of initial insecurity, then took another look at the gleaming pools of aquamarine that were Historia's eyes. After that, there was no contest as to the answer, it was a unanimous 'Yes' from the entire crew.

"So…who's first?" Jean inquired as he feebly began to back away from the rest of the crew.

_'Play it cool, Jean,' _Jean thought to himself as he maintained one of the greatest poker faces of all time, _'play it cool…'_

"And how are we gonna do this, exactly?" Connie added.

"Well," Armin spoke up, "what if we go in alphabetical order, by first name, and when each person goes up, the rest of us look away?"

The group all exchanged gestures of agreement, and Armin's face lit up at the group's newfound enthusiasm.

"Well then," Jean said as he walked over to Historia, grabbed the rock out of her hand and extended it towards Armin, "that makes you first, buddy."

Armin's enthusiasm was shattered almost instantly. He gazed upon the stone chisel with a dark, gloomy expression that was being masked in an extremely futile manner by a smile. "Uh, uh, m-me?"

"Unless I've been singing the alphabet wrong for my 16 years of living," Eren said as he managed to break away from Sasha and sling his arm around Armin, "A is the first letter of the alphabet. That puts you in first, so go for it!" Eren grinned like a Cheshire Cat; devious, yet playful.

Armin was even more terrified now, and panicked to formulate an excuse, "W-w-well, if that's the case, then I'd like to offer up a rule before we do this!" Armin exclaimed.

"A rule?" Jean inquired.

"Yes," Armin replied, "a privacy rule."

"But we already have one." Marco stated, "We all turn our backs-"

"I know that!" Armin interrupted, "I'm talking about a new one. You get to say nothing about any of the other Aiaigasas that you see up there. You keep it a secret, and only get to talk about it with the person whom it belongs to."

Eren shrugged in agreement, and replied, "That sounds fair. It keep the love a secret, and makes it kind of you and the other person's own little secret. That makes it even more fun!"

"I guess it does at that…" Jean muttered to himself.

The group all nodded and shrugged in agreement at Armin's once again brilliant idea, then Jean placed the chisel in Armin's hand and said, "Ok, enough dicking around, get to it!" with a playful grin.

Armin firmly grasped the chisel, and nodded in accordance. The group all turned away as Armin walked up to the boulder's face. He found a sturdy stone on the ground that he felt would suffice for etching. He carefully carved the umbrella's handle, then the triangle, and finally the heart. He then proceeded to carve in his name on the right, then contemplated heavily who he wanted on the other side. He figured it had to be someone that wouldn't make him seem like he had low standards, but at he same time, wouldn't make him seem like too much of a dreamer. After a minute or two, he remembered this girl he had seen on the school tennis court a day or two ago, at a match he went to watch on his free time.

She had dirty blonde hair that was always tied back into a ponytail, save for her bangs, which were parted on both sides and fell delicately next to her teal eyes. As far as Armin could guess, she was a little shorter than Connie, but a little taller than Historia, and her name…as far as Armin knew, the announcer had said it was Annie Leonhart.

Armin made up his mind, and carved Annie's name to the left of his, and then called out, "Ok, I'm done! Connie, you're next!"

Connie turned around, nodded to Armin, and took the stone and chisel. He walked dutifully towards the stone, and began to etch his Aiaigasa.

"Alright, done and done!" Connie called out after a minute or so, "Eren, go for it!"

Eren turned around, nodded to Connie, and took the stone and chisel. When he reached the boulder's face, his mind was racing at a million thoughts per minute. He shakily etched the Aiaigasa, wrote his name on the right, and then sat and stared at the blank left space.

_'Come on, Eren,' _he thought to himself, _'there has to be someone that I like!' _Eren gazed at the other Aiaigasas, _'Who's 'Annie?…' _he thought to himself as he examined Armin's Aiaigasa. He looked around for Connie's, which read 'Connie' on one side, and 'Petra' on the other. _'Petra?…' _Eren thought about where he had heard that name before, and then he remembered, _'No, he couldn't mean…'_ he remembered that there was a 'Petra' in the Drama Club, she was a senior who took everyone's play applications that same day. Eren snapped back to his senses, and then thought, _'Well, maybe if I just leave it blank, then I won't offend anyone. I can just fill it in later when I find someone, right? Yeah, right.' _Eren left his Aiaigasa blank, as he called out to the rest of the group, "Alright, I'm done. That means…Historia, you're up ne-"

Eren was cut short as Historia rapidly spun around, and snatched the chisel and stone out of Eren's hand practically all in the same second. Eren was taken aback by Historia's enthusiasm, but thought it best not to question it as he turned around.

_'Come to think of it,' _Eren thought to himself as he and the rest of the crew stood with their backs to Historia, although it seemed like Ymir was desperately trying to sneak a peek at what she was writing, _'I guess her enthusiasm makes sense. After all, she suggested this in the first place…' _Eren noticed he was standing next to Jean, and leaned into him and whispered, "So, who do you think Historia likes?"

Jean chuckled to himself a little bit, and then whispered back, "Isn't it obvious?"

Eren cocked his head to the side a little bit, and began to think about it intently. He began to consider who Historia had been closest to in the entire time Eren had known her. After a second of contemplation, he leaned back to Jean and whispered, "You?"

Jean cringed at the assumption, and slapped Eren on the crown of his head, eliciting a stifled, "Ow!" from Eren. "No, you idiot," Jean sharply whispered back at Eren, "think _really _carefully. Who has been with her 9 times out of 10? Who's always been near her?"

Eren took into consideration Jean's words, and was about to make another guess when Historia called out, "Ok, I'm done! That means you're next, Jean!"

Jean swallowed, then turned around and nervously accepted the chisel from Historia. As he was walking towards the boulder, Historia grabbed his jacket and whispered in his ear, "Wait, there's something I want to ask you."

Jean felt his life flash before his eyes, as he contemplated everything that Historia could possibly say. He could feel Ymir's eyes piercing the very fibers of his being, as she noticed Historia's closeness to him. "Y-yeah?" Jean stuttered.

_'Shit, shit, shit…' _Jean thought to himself, _'Was Eren actually right? Does she actually like __**me**__? But that's impossible, I saw her and Ymir snuggling, they have to be in love, don't they?'_ Jean braced for the impact of Ymir's boot up against his face as Historia began to speak.

"Why is your name spelled like a pair of pants?" Historia inquired in clueless voice.

"What?" Jean replied as he drew back from Historia.

"Well," Historia began, "Ymir told me that your name is spelled J-e-a-n, not J-u-n, like you would expect from the way you pronounce it. So I was just curious is all."

Jean looked at Historia's smiling face with both relief, and annoyance. "I don't know…" Jean replied as he walked onwards to the boulder.

When Historia came back, she stood next to Ymir, who asked her, "What was that all about with Jean?"

"Oh," Historia replied, "just asking why Jean was named after pants."

"Oh, ok that makes sense." Ymir replied as she put her arm around Historia and held her tight. "Hey wait a minute…"

When Jean reached the boulder's face, he toyed with the chisel and stone for a minute. _'Just do it Jean,' _he thought to himself, _'but wait, Mikasa will notice.' _Jean was about to give up and just leave his blank, until he thought of something. _'I know,' _he thought to himself, _'I'll just write it somewhere out of the way, where no one will notice it. Then she'll never notice! It's brilliant!' _Jean inspected the boulder until he noticed down at the boulder's bottom, where there was a little snow covering it. _'Perfect.'_ Jean thought to himself. He brushed away the snow, and began to delicately carve his Aiaigasa, putting his and Mikasa's names on it, then covering it back up with the light covering of snow that was there originally. He was about to leave when he thought, _'Hey, I wonder who Eren put down?' _He looked back at the group, and thought, _'Well, I've got a minute, I might as well scope out his…' _Jean looked around for Eren's Aiaigasa, seeing Armin's, Connie's, and Historia's. Upon seeing Historia's Jean thought to himself, _'I knew it…' _When he finally found Eren's, he thought, _'That would be just you Eren, leaving your Aiaigasa blank…' _Jean was about to leave when he thought of something…he tentatively caressed the chisel and stone in his hand, and chuckled evilly to himself, and thought, _'Dare I do it?' _Jean chuckled a little louder and said to himself, "I dare…" and began to chisel in a name into Eren's Aiaigasa, chuckling maniacally all the while.

After an unusually long time, Jean called out, "Alright, I'm done! Marco, come on up!

Marco turned around and accepted the chisel and stone from Jean's hands, noting Jean's unusually happy demeanor, but nonetheless, carrying on.

Marco seemed to be taking quite a while, and everyone was wondering what was going on, but finally, after a solid 3 minutes of waiting, Marco called out, "Sorry for taking awhile, but I'm done! Mikasa, you're next!"

Mikasa turned around, took the chisel and stone from Marco, and advanced towards the boulder. Jean was giddier than a schoolgirl, and was giggling like one to boot. Eren cocked his head at his obscure happiness, and whispered to him, "Jean, what are you so happy about?"

Jean managed to break his chuckle enough so that he could whisper back, and replied, "Well, if I'm correct, you'll find out in roughly three…two…one…now."

There was a moment of silence, but other than that, nothing happened. Jean looked around frantically, unsure of how his plan had failed. He had carefully executed it so that Mikasa would see Eren's Aiaigasa and notice that it had Sasha's name on it, making her furious and thinking that would cause her to lash out at Eren. He thought of everything that could've gone wrong, and then he remembered…he shot a look at Marco, who winked devilishly in return. With that, Jean had found his culprit. He shot Marco a look as if to say, _'_You sly son of a bitch…'and Marco countered with a look that said, 'Thanks, I take pride in my work."

Mikasa's time was surprisingly short, as she called out, "Done. Sasha, you're up!"

Sasha spun around cheerily, took the stone and chisel from Mikasa, and skipped towards the boulder.

Eren let out a sigh, and placed his hands on the nape of his neck, rested his head on his right shoulder and muttered, "Jeez…" to himself.

Jean noticed this, and inquired, "What's wrong?"

"It's…nothing…trust me." Eren replied, obviously deep in though.

Jean put the pieces of the puzzle together, put his arm around Eren's shoulder, and said, "Look buddy, if it's about Sasha…" he tightened his grip on Eren's shoulder, noogied him a little and then whispered to him, "Just do it, ya pussy."

Eren chuckled at his friend's advice, and replied, "Yeah, I'll keep that in mind…"

"All done~!" Sasha sang as she skipped back to the group. "Ymir, looks like you're last!"

Ymir casually spun around, and took the stone and chisel from Sasha. She then walked slowly, but surely towards the boulder.

Jean watched Ymir carefully and Eren took notice of this, and he inquired, "Jean, what is it this time?"

"You'll see." Jean replied.

"You said that the last time," Eren retorted, "why should I-"

"Shh!" Jean interrupted as he put his hand over Eren's mouth. Eren mumbled out what sounded like a stifled, 'What the hell?!', but Jean disregarded it and held up three fingers. He counted down, out loud, "Three…two…one…" he then pointed at Ymir, "Now."

At that moment, Ymir let out the girliest, "EEEEEEEEEE!" anyone had ever heard.

The whole crew collectively turned to Ymir to see what was wrong. What they were greeted by was the sight of a dashing Ymir, one who was hell-bent on getting to one girl and one girl in particular, Historia. Ymir bolted from the boulder, completely ignoring the crowd, picked up Historia so that Ymir's head was on level with her neck, squeezed her tightly, then kissed her; passionately.

The whole crew was taken aback by this, but that didn't seem to bother the couple, in any way at all.

After a minute or so, the couple broke their kiss, and Ymir exclaimed, "Historia, the answer is 'Yes', a thousand times 'Yes'!" and then buried her face in Historia's chest, squealing all the while.

Eren looked to Jean, who had taken his hand off of Eren's mouth a little while ago, and inquired, "Would you mind explaining to me what the hell is going on here?!"

Jean chuckled a little to himself and replied, "Love, mein freund, love." in a cheesy German accent.

Eren hit him on the arm, and replied, "Ok, Heinrich, now the serious version."

Jean laughed, and then replied, "I already said, it's love."

Eren looked at Jean, then looked at Ymir and Historia, who were now deep in each other's embrace, and then back at Jean, and said, "Ok, I get that, but how did you know that-"

"I saw Historia's Aiaigasa." Jean explained, "It said, 'Historia' and 'Ymir', and it also had a note at the bottom that read, 'Ymir, if you see this, will you be my girlfriend?'. Naturally, what else was Ymir going to do? The rest is before you." Jean gestured to the new couple, who were affectionately playing with one another's hair.

Ymir paused for a moment though, and walked over to Jean with Historia. She leaned in and whispered in his ear "I guess one of us has found our love so far, eh?"

Jean chuckled and replied, "Yeah, I guess so…"

"Now, don't disappoint me with that Ackerman chick, alright?" Ymir said as she gave Jean a pat on the chest that knocked the wind out of him.

"Yeah…" Jean replied breathlessly, "I'll try not to…"

Ymir leaned out, then held up her and Historia's intertwined hands and proclaimed, "Let it be known, from this day forward, that Christa Historia Reiss and I, are now girlfriend and girlfriend!"

The crew clapped in congratulation, and the happy new couple once again, shared a passionate kiss.

"Ok, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, _**whoa**_." Marco interjected as he pushed through the crowd.

Jean turned to Marco and inquired, "What's wrong, Marco? Do you have something against this couple?"

Ymir broke their kiss and held Historia even tighter as she assumed a defensive stance.

"Oh no no no, it's not that." Marco replied as he gestured to Ymir and Historia, "I'm very happy for the two of you. Exhilarated in fact." Ymir and Historia thanked Marco for his kind words with smiles on their faces. "But," Marco continued, "how come you never told us that your first name was actually Christa, Historia?"

Historia blushed as she inquired, "Did I really never tell you all that?" The group collectively nodded as Historia blushed even deeper and replied, "Well, I guess it just never came up, ha ha ha…I'm so sorry…"

"Don't be sorry, Christa." Jean reassured her, "In fact, be happy." Jean gestured to Ymir as he said, "You have yourself the best girlfriend anyone could ask for."

Christa blushed a beautiful shade of scarlet red as she looked up to Ymir and the couple passionately and romantically locked their lips again. After about 30 seconds (and a lot of "Aww"s from the girls (and some of the guys) of the group), the two were interrupted by a sharp car horn blast.

The crew had been so caught up in the moment, they hadn't noticed the fact that Levi had pulled up in the Drama Club's dark blue van until he honked the horn again, rolled down the window, and said, "If you two are going to be making out in the back of the van, at least do it out of the way of my rear view mirror." with his usual unemotional face.

From the passenger seat, Hange climbed over Levi, poked out of the driver's side window and yelled, "Hey everyone!" with a huge smile on her face.

Levi grabbed Hange by the collar of her jacket, pulled her back into the passenger seat, as he muttered, "Get back in the passenger seat you shitty Four Eyes…"

Everyone cocked their head at Hange's presence and Marco spoke up and inquired, "Uh, Vice President Levi, what's Hange doing here?"

As Levi struggled to keep Hange back, he replied, "There's no need for formalities, we all know each other, you can drop that 'Vice President' prefix."

"Duly noted." Marco replied.

"But that still doesn't explain why Hange's here!" Armin added.

"Oh, it's not just me!" Hange replied as she struggled over Levi, who was still holding onto her collar with an unamused expression on his face.

"What…do you mean?" Jean inquired.

At that moment, the side doors to the van slid open, and out came Erwin, Eld, Gunther, Mike, Oluo and Petra, all dressed in winter jackets with the exception of Oluo who had his cravat hanging out from his. They all waved and greeted the motley crew, who all waved and greeted back.

Eren ran over towards the seniors and greeted them amicably and warmly. They returned the courtesy.

"When did you get so friendly with the seniors?" Jean mocked as he wafted his hair with his fingers.

"Oi, lighten up there." Oluo called out to Jean, "Be it not for him, you wouldn't have a club to be in."

"Yeah man," Gunther added as he threw his arm around Eren, "this little guy saved us all in the Drama Club, we owe him a great lot!"

Mike snuck up behind Eren and deeply smelled his hair, "Plus, I have _got _to figure out what shampoo he uses!"

Eren broke free of Gunther's grasp and spun around to face the seniors who were all laughing at Mike's antics.

Mike looked over to the rest of the crew and said, "Oh sorry, I haven't formally introduced myself. My name's Mike Zacharius."

The group all waved and greeted Mike warmly, and he replied by deeply inhaling and replying, "Ah, you all have a magnificent essence about you all!"

They all awkwardly drew back from Mike and collectively replied, "Ah, ok…"

"Don't worry guys," Eren reassured the group, "remember? Mike determines if he likes people or not by smelling them."

"You know," Sasha said as she put her hand on her cheek, "I do remember hearing something about that at the meeting…"

"Memorization." Erwin complimented, "An essential trait of any good actor or actress. Very nice, young lady."

Sasha blushed at Erwin's compliment, and Levi added, "Well, Erwin, it's not entirely memorization. Remember, she said she remembers hearing 'something' about it at the meeting, that doesn't itself signify memorization of entire events."

"Jeez, Levi…" Hange moaned, "For once have some faith in a newbie."

"Maybe I should have my hand around your throat instead of on your collar…" Levi mused to himself. He then turned to Erwin and stated, "And if you want good and proper memorization, then look at Petra." Petra blushed deeply at Levi's compliment, "I've seen her memorize entire scripts like they were nothing."

"Oh, stop Levi." Petra said as she attempted to cover her crimson red face, "You're too much."

"Um," Armin spoke up, "who are you?"

Petra turned to Armin and replied, "Oh, I'm Petra Rall, a senior in charge of the Drama Club."

"I remember you," Connie added, "you took our papers earlier at the meeting."

"That's right!" Petra replied with a smile, "I'm glad you all remember me!"

"Ah, don't think down on yourself like that." Eld said as he turned to Petra, "It gets you nowhere."

Petra nodded in acknowledgment of Eld's comment, and replied, "Sorry, everyone." as she took a bow.

The crew was taken aback by her formality, but figured it was best to just go with the flow and accept her apology for whatever reason.

Mikasa raised her hand and said, "But wait, that still doesn't explain why you're all here in the first place."

The seniors froze for a moment and then Gunther replied, "Well…um…"

"You know, it's a funny story about that…" Eld said as he crossed his arms and looked over at Mike and Petra.

Petra blushed and squealed a little bit as Mike exclaimed "Um, oh yeah! What happened was…um…Oluo?"

"Jeez…you're all hopeless…" Oluo sighed as he tugged at his cravat, "What really happened was…Erwin what did happen?"

Erwin sighed and chuckled at the same time as he said, "Don't mind them, all. They're just too embarrassed to say what happened."

"So…what did happen?" Jean inquired.

"You see," Erwin began as he leaned up against he van, "Levi was coming out back to get the van when he saw us sneaking out of the school. Well, naturally he wanted to know what we were all up to when we were supposed to be counting the play ballots, and we countered with what he was doing when he said he was going out for a short walk to get something from his locker." Erwin chuckled as he continued, "Well, long story short, we ended up cracking first and admitted that we were going to sneak off and get something to eat and leave him to do all the ballot counting. And wouldn't you know, he cracked and admitted that he was going to use the van to take some of his friends out for something to eat as well. And now we're here!"

"Idiot." Levi called from the driver's seat, "I didn't _crack_; I merely stated that our intentions coincided and that we should team up rather than oppose each other."

Hange popped out from the window and added, "Don't believe him kids, he cracked like an egg. And he even _blushed_."

Levi shoved his free hand over Hange's mouth and forced her back into the passenger seat. "Next time the spare hand _will _move to your throat." Levi taunted Hange. The seniors and the crew laughed as Levi easily fought Hange back and Hange tried her best to push forward.

"But wait," Marco inquired as he raised his hand, "how did all of you fit in there? That van couldn't fit more than seven people at most, and there's eight of you."

"Easy," Gunther explained, "we took out the back seat, so it's _all _open back there. We can easily fit all of us and you guys as well!"

"We took it out awhile ago so it would be easier to carry props and costumes." Mike explained as he gestured to the barren back of the van. The crew looked in to see that indeed, the back was empty and devoid of any seats.

"But what about all of the ballots?" Armin inquired, "Don't those need to be counted by tomorrow?"

"Well…" Gunther began as he put his hand on the nape of his neck, "we were kinda hoping you guys could help us with that after dinner…"

Eren shrugged and replied, "It seems only fair. You guys _are _taking us out to eat, don't you agree we should return the favor?"

The crew exchanged looks and gave responses that were pretty unanimously "Yes."

Historia hugged Ymir tightly and said, "How romantic Ymir! Our first date!" and nuzzled up against Ymir's chest.

"I know, Historia." Ymir reassured as she returned the embrace and rubbed Historia's head.

Petra cocked her head to the side as she looked at Ymir and Historia, and continued to awkwardly stare at them. Gunther looked like he was trying his hardest to hold in an "Aww!", Mike and Eld actually let one out which resulted in a menacing glance from Ymir that put the two back into submission like a couple of frightened puppies.

Oluo tugged at his cravat and stated, "You know, PDAs are against school regulations-" his sentence was interrupted by a blow to the stomach from Ymir, who had creeped up on him while he was still speaking. Oluo looked down to see Ymir's boot lodged firmly underneath his ribcage, as he sputtered out,

"But…maybe" he violently hacked, "we'll let is slide…_just this once_…"

Ymir smiled a crooked smile as she relieved Oluo's stomach of the pressure of her boot, then walked back and returned to Historia's embrace.

"I'm…confused…" Petra said as she looked at Ymir and Historia, "are they…"

"Aww!" Hange called from inside the van in a rather dopey sounding voice, "Is Petwa sad because she hasn't found wuv yet?"

Hange was stifled by Levi abruptly shoving the hand that Hange had licked to get removed onto her throat, and holding her back in the passenger seat while she tenuously held on to dear life.

Petra blushed as Ymir and Historia shared a kiss, then turned to Hange and said, "Oh no no no no no no no!" as she waved her hands in front of her face in a frantic manner, "It's not that, it's just…" she turned to the happy couple and inquired, "are…you going to be doing that on the ride to the restaurant?"

"Petra, it's fine." Levi chimed in from inside the van, "I told them to sit out of the view of the rear view mirror, so you can just sit up here in the passenger seat."

Petra's face donned a whole new shade of red as she replied, "P-p-passenger seat?"

"I need someone other than Four Eyes up here." Levi replied as he easily held Hange back, using only one hand no less.

"O-oh, I understand." Petra replied as she felt her heart pound in her chest.

Levi nodded in acknowledgement, opened the driver's side door, and threw Hange out like a Raggedy Ann doll. Gunther and Oluo scrambled to help her up, but she brushed them away and scrambled to her feet, a fire of exhilaration burning in her eyes, evident even though her thick glasses.

Jean noticed this, leaned in towards Eren, and whispered, "Masochist?"

Eren nodded as he whispered back, "Definitely…"

The two shared a synchronized nod, and returned their attention to the situation at hand.

"C'mon." Levi called to the group as he gestured towards the van from out of the driver's window, "If we don't hurry, we won't have long to eat."

"Yeah, c'mon everyone!" Gunther called as he hopped in the van, followed by the rest of the seniors, and then the rest of the crew. Petra meekly walked around the van, and into the passenger's side seat. As she got in, she was startled as Levi threw himself onto her. Their bodies touching, and Petra was more than positive that he could feel the heat of embarrassment emanating from her.

"L-Levi…" Petra whispered as she began to embrace Levi.

"Got it." Levi stated, stopping Petra dead in her tracks. Levi came back, face to face with Petra, and stated, "I got the seat belt for you," as he held up the seat belt buckle in his left hand, "it was stuck in the door." He then embraced Petra as he reached back behind her to get the other half of the seat belt, and buckled her in tightly, Petra doing her best to conceal a squeal of excitement the whole time.

"Thank you." Petra said to Levi as Levi revved up the engine on the van.

"Well, it's common courtesy, no?" Levi replied as he got the car going.

"Y-yeah, of course…" Petra replied as she focused her attention straightforward on the road.

_'But Levi…' _Petra thought to herself as she let her gaze wander to her handsome driver, _'what I feel for you…_

_is more than common courtesy…' _

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

The car ride to the restaurant was somewhat long, but the crew was finding ways to pass the time. Driving out of the city and into the more rural section of town provided plenty of 'I Spy' material, and Hange often made comments towards Levi's driving not being fast enough for her tastes, which was often replied to with silence, followed by a sudden stop that always jolted Hange forward on her face. The rest of the crew could always tell it was coming, because Levi always tapped his foot three times before he did it.

And the van was far from dingy. The seniors had installed shag carpeting in the van after taking the seats out awhile ago, so it wasn't uncomfortable sitting on the floor. Plus, they brought along their blankets, so they were all still warm and cozy while they sat and chatted. However, due to insufficient stock in said blankets, the seniors had to share blankets with certain people. Ymir and Historia of course had their own blanket, and spent the majority of the car ride over in the corner of the van, snuggling and kissing each other. Eren shared a blanket with Mike (at the behest of the latter and to the fury of Sasha and Mikasa), who snuggled Eren as well, but with his nose often wandering to different places on Eren's head. Gunther shared a blanket with Jean, and the two were in an intense conversation about why Jean's name isn't pronounced like the pair of pants. Eld and Erwin shared a blanket with Armin, and the three got along perfectly. Hange shared a blanket with Sasha, and Hange was trying to guess Sasha's measurements apparently for "costume designs"…no further comment.

And Oluo being the aloof bastard he is, refused to share a blanket with anyone, stating that it was too "plebeian" of him to be caught sharing a blanket with someone. Naturally this elicited some argument from the group, but he remained steadfast. So to loosen him up, Eld got to telling a little story.

"Hey, did I ever tell you guys about the first play that Oluo ever did in the Drama Club?" Eld inquired of the group.

The group shook their heads back and forth to signify a "No", and Eld grinned a maniacal grin as he replied,

"Oh this is gonna be good…" Eld put his hands behind his head and leaned back onto the van's interior as he regaled his tale. "Well, it was when we were all freshmen," Eld began, "and we were just starting out in the Drama Club. And Petra and Oluo were part of the new recruits picked out by Levi and Erwin. Well, when it came time to perform our first play, '_Beauty and the Beast_', Oluo got chosen to be Lumière, and he got so nervous that when he went on stage-"

Oluo got up from where he was sitting and shoved his hand over Eld's mouth, as Eld mumbled some unintelligible nonsense. Mike noticed Eld's…predicament, and decided to continued Eld's story.

"Oluo go so nervous," Mike continued, "that when he went on stage, he pissed his pants."

Oluo's expression darkened, as he tok his hand off of Eld's mouth, and retreated over to the corner of the van. The rest of the crew turned to Mike with shocked and awed expressions painting their faces, then turned to the corner of the van where Oluo was cowering even more now.

"It gets even better." Mike continued, "Petra pissed herself too-"

A sharp wail could be heard from Petra from up in the driver's area of the van. You could feel the aura of sheepishness emanating from her as she visibly sunk into her seat. The group's looks of shock, awe, and horror now only intensified.

"So wait," Eren spoke up as he turned to Mike, "does that mean that, it spilled all over the stage?"

"SHUT UP!" Oluo exclaimed from his corner as he buried his head between his knees.

"Hey, calm it down," Gunther stated as he put his arms up and waved them up and down in a 'calm down' motion, "and focus on what's at hand here, ok? Just a nice outing with friends, to a restaurant that Levi was so gracious to point out."

"You know, speaking of," Sasha spoke up after her abnormal silence, "what is this restaurant?"

"I thought I already told you," Levi called from the driver's area, "it's a little hole-in-the-wall place I found awhile ago that not many people know about. Fuck if I know how it stays in business…" Levi reached a stop sign, turned his glance to Erwin in the rearview mirror and said, "Maybe her memorization isn't what you assume it to be, Erwin."

Erwin chuckled and replied, "What happened to your faith?"

"I must have misplaced it…" Levi replied as he turned his eyes back to the road, flicked on the right turn signal, and drove onward. The crew looked out their windows to notice their surroundings. Wherever they were, they were off the beaten path. Not so much that they had _completely _abandoned the main highways, as they at least still had paved roads, but it was far enough out that the houses were few and far between.

Eren leaned over to Erwin and muttered, "Do you have any idea where we are?"

Erwin glanced out of the back of the van, and replied, "Absolutely…"

Eren breathed a sigh of relief as he opened his mouth to ask of their whereabouts, but then Erwin continued his sentence,

"…no idea."

Eren facepalmed as he returned to Mike's treacherous clutches, which, at this point, he'd basically accepted as the norm.

"So," Mikasa spoke up, "do you have any idea on what play is leading in the ballots?"

"Business oriented, eh?" Mike replied as he cast a condescending look on Mikasa, "Honestly, you're worse than Gunther…"

"It's true." Gunther added, turning to Mikasa, "I'm normally pretty carefree, but, when it comes to acting or business, I have a one-track mind."

"Really?" Armin inquired, gazing upon Gunther with fascination.

"Really." Gunther replied, "But let's not focus on that shall we?"

"How long have we been driving?" Connie groaned.

Marco reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. "Roughly…twenty minutes."

"Ah, then we should be getting close." Mike added. The group's attention was immediately shifted to Mike, as he looked at them back and replied, "What?"

"YOU KNEW WHERE WE WERE THE WHOLE TIME?!" Jean exclaimed, tossing his hands about in fury.

"Yeah, of course." Mike replied as he closed his eyes, "I've gone here once or twice before with Levi before, so I memorized the route." Mike opened his eyes to the infuriated faces of the majority of the group, "Is there a problem?…" He inquired as he looked around once more.

"The least you could've done was told us you knew where we were." Marco stated.

"Why didn't you say anything when Eren asked Erwin about it earlier?" Mikasa inquired.

"That was a question for Erwin," Mike replied, "and far be it from me to interrupt another man, or answer his question that's blatantly aimed at another man."

The group all scowled at Mike, as he flashed a cocky smile and then sat back, as sure of himself as he'd always been.

"So…" Armin spoke up, "where exactly are we?"

Mike peered out the window, then replied, "I'd say, about…five miles out by now." He followed a sign with his head as it whizzed by and then continued, "Yep, definitely five miles out. We should be there within a minute or two."

"Something doesn't make sense…" Marco spoke up, a troubled look adorning his face, "Why?"

Mike turned his head to Marco as he replied, "What do you mean, 'why?'?"

"Why would Levi take you, out of all people?" Marco inquired, "And furthermore, why would he keep it a secret from the rest of the seniors? It doesn't add up."

Mike chuckled under his breath as he replied, "To be honest, I don't know myself." He looked up at the ceiling and then continued, "I guess I've got something the rest of the seniors don't. Or maybe it's because we were both often the last ones left, handling duties or something like that. Way back when, when us seniors were just getting the Drama Club started up, we would often have to hang around long after class. It would normally just be me, Levi, and Erwin." Mike looked back down at Erwin and inquired with a smug look, "You remember, right?"

Erwin nodded with a small grin as he replied, "How could I forget…" Erwin turned to Levi up in the driver's compartment as he continued, "back then…we were the ones that did the most work." Erwin turned to the rest of the seniors, "You guys often had other things to do after class, leaving Levi, Mike, and I to do much of the work…" Erwin simultaneously began to reflect on those times in his mind…

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

_(Three Years Ago, Drama Cub room)_

Dust filled the musty air of the Drama Club room as Erwin, Levi, and Mike continued to move box after box. The boxes weren't labeled, but from the sound of it, their contents were mainly the school supplies of whatever teacher occupied this space and whatever class he or she taught. Levi was dressed more casually now, still wearing his cravat, dress shirt, pants, and shoes, but ditching the tuxedo jacket for a more comfortable apron, bandana, and cloth face handkerchief. Erwin wore a simple blue school sweatshirt, that had 'GBHS' in your typical yellow-with-white-outline varsity font, and jeans that were beginning to fade beneath the right kneecap. Mike had a form fitting black Hollister™polo shirt on, with skinny jeans that had his freshman lanyard hanging out of his right hand pocket.

As Mike set another box down in the corner of the room, he cracked his back and groaned, "C'mon Levi, do we really have to do this?"

As Levi dusted off one of the tables, he replied, "A clean environment is the only suitable environment. And I hope you know that once we've gotten all of these boxes in position, we're going to be moving them out of the room."

Mike's heart sank as Erwin chimed in, "He's right, we need to get it all moved down to the empty storage room on the other end of the floor. "

"Then what's the point of positioning them now?" Mike sighed as he walked over to another box and picked it up, "Why not just go ahead and move them to them down to the storage room in the first place?"

Levi stopped mid-dust, turned to Mike and replied, "Have you heard from the other freshmen yet?"

Mike cocked his head as he replied, "I talked with Gunther earlier, he said they were busy tonight with homework and couldn't come. It couldn't be helped, and we really should have anticipated this…" Mike continued over to the corner of the room where he laid the box he was carrying on top of a plastic tub, and continued, "but that still doesn't answer my-"

"_Mike._" Erwin forcefully interjected as he gave a sharp look to Mike, who looked back at Levi, who had folded up the table he had been dusting off, and moved on to the next one. Mike took the hint, and got back to work.

After awhile of labor, Levi broke the silence saying, "We have a really shitty group of freshmen this year…"

Erwin scoffed, "You do realize we have one of said freshmen in the room?"

Levi began to fold up the table as he turned to Mike, pulled down his handkerchief, and stated, "You're included in that bunch, you know?"

Mike perked his head up as he replied, "Yeah, but the difference between me and them is the fact that I'm actually here helping."

"Yes, you are." Levi replied, his usual unflappable expression across his face, "And by doing so you're lessening your shittiness." He continued to fold up the table, as Mike just stared onwards, quizzically.

Mike walked over to Erwin, who was in the middle of taping up a cardboard box of supplies, and whispered, "Wait, does he hate me, or…"

Erwin broke off the piece of duct tape, then picked up the box and whispered back, "He's fine with you. Don't worry, he's done this to everyone, and he's been like this for as long as I've known him."

Mike gave a puzzled look to Levi, as he walked with Erwin over to the far northwest corner of the room. "So, he does this to everyone? He's _never _happy?"

"Oh no, don't get me wrong." Erwin grunted as he laid down the apparently heavy box, "He has a soft side," Erwin softly whispered, "but he rarely ever shows it. But I've seen it before."

"Really?" An excited Mike replied, "When?"

"It was awhile ago, way back in middle school." Erwin began, as he did his best to make him and Mike look busy, knowing full well it was a futile effort against Levi's hawk-like eyes, but trying nonetheless, "We were both in eighth grade, and there was this kid we saw who was…probably a sixth grader, but he could've been a fifth, I don't' know, it's hard to tell…" Erwin picked up a plastic tub and pretended to be shifting it around, "anyways, he was getting picked on by some bullies, about three, and when this girl that this kid was with tried defending him…" Erwin let the tub he was carrying make a considerable thud as he turned to Mike and gave a nod to the tub. Needless to say, Mike got the picture.

"So, what happened then?" Mike inquired as he shifted around a tub or two.

"Well," Erwin continued, lifting up the lid off of a tub and sifted through its contents, "after the sister got laid out, they proceeded to knock the kid down, and kick him until he was spitting up blood pretty bad. I was about to do something myself, then Levi took some action." Erwin picked out a football from the tub, and tossed it up and down, "He ran into the crowd, kicked out the knee of the first kid, gave a solid haymaker to the kid to his immediate right, then spun around and kicked the third one right in the face!" Erwin placed the football back in the tub, and began to sift around in the tub once again, "After all that was said and done…" Erwin paused for a minute, then continued, "you know, honestly, it's kind of a blur after that."

"What?!" Mike exclaimed in a hushed tone. "That's not like you…Erwin."

Erwin picked up a do-nothing toy from out of the tub and began to play with it as he replied, "Yeah…sorry. All I remember after that is we took him to the school infirmary, and Levi sat next to the guy all day and night. I don't even know if he slept or not, to be honest."

"Wow…" Mike admired, "so, what made this kid so special?"

"You know…" Erwin paused again for a brief moment, "again, I'm not sure. I mean, normally he would've made them get up on their own accord, but to actually help someone up and pull an all-nighter with them while they recover, no less. Amazing, if you ask me."

"So, what ever happened to the kid?" Mike inquired as he too sifted through the objects within the tub and produced a pair of drumsticks that he unknowingly began to twiddle, "Does Levi still know him to this day?"

"I like to think that sometimes." Erwin replied, stowing his do-nothing toy, "But Levi hasn't spoken a word of that incident since the day it happened. And what's more, right before the kid woke up, Levi vanished from the infirmary and just resumed his classes." Erwin cast a melancholy look towards Levi, almost pitying the guy, "He hasn't spoken of the whole thing since."

"With good reason, Erwin." Levi called from the other side of the room as he sprayed some Windex™ on the window, and scrubbed at it with a washcloth.

Mike stiffened up as he slowly notched his head over towards Levi, and inquired, "Y-you heard us, Levi?"

"How could I not?" Levi replied as he continued to clean the window he was at, "Your 'whispers' are practically fucking screams."

Erwin chuckled as he responded, "Calm down, Levi," he gave Levi an…interesting look, as he continued, "You know my memory's fuzzy about all that…" Erwin's tone was one that Mike hadn't heard before; calm, but sharp.

Levi stopped mid-scrub, and replied, "It _was _a long time ago, no?"

A small grin crossed Erwin's face as he replied, "Yes. Yes it was."

Mike could sense that there was an underlying meaning there; in fact, even the densest person on Earth could tell that, as far as Mike was concerned. Mike was determined to get to the bottom of this, but figured that should be saved for another place, another time…

"Say, Levi." Erwin called to Levi as he got back to work and began folding up a table, "You wanna go get something to eat?"

Levi was cleaning the windowsill as he replied, "The President? Slacking off? What's gotten into you, Erwin?"

Erwin chuckled as he moved over towards Levi and responded, "The same thing that got into you, that day."

Levi was halted dead in his tracks. His gaze was spaced-out, but seemed fixated on something outside of the window. Levi continued to gaze onwards in a spaced-out manner for two minutes solid, until he finally replied, "I know a place."

Mike let a smile cross his face as he clenched his fist and exclaimed, "Whoo! I'll go get the van's keys!"

"You're not driving it, you know." Levi replied as he reached in one of the pockets of his apron and produced a keyring with keys on it, then twirled it around his index finger, the key's jangle and jingle filling the room.

"Aw, but it smells great up in the driver's compartment!" Mike groaned as he reached the doors of the room.

"What the hell is with you and smelling things?…" Levi inquired, "It's weird…"

"What can I say?" Mike shrugged, "I like smells!" Mike opened the door to the room and called, "I'll wait for you all out in the van! Don't make me wait too long, though; I know how to hot-wire a car!" Mike then slammed the door shut and ran off.

After a moment or two, Erwin gave a shrewd look to Levi and said, "So, how did you do on your finals?"

"Stop with the koi act, Erwin." Levi replied as he rolled his eyes and took off his bandana, "You know the plan just as well as I do."

Erwin haughtily laughed as he began to put away the cleaning supplies lying around in the cupboards. "It's sad that we have to do this; but it's for the best."

"And when we find suitable replacements?" Levi inquired, beginning to untie his apron, and fold it carefully.

"We tell them our plan, and make them pick up where we left off." Erwin replied, "In fact, I think the ones we have now will work just perfectly."

"If we can convince them, that is." Levi replied, now folding up his bandana.

"I don't think we'll have a problem there." Erwin replied, still casually leaning on the countertop, now looking out the window, "And with you and I training them, we'll be fine."

"And this is doomed to repeat in some sick moebius loop?" Levi inquired, his clothes now properly folded and lying on the table.

"It's the only way it can work." Erwin responded, his facial expression darkening. He falsely chuckled as he continued, "Our permanent records are going to be shot to shit, eh?"

"Don't look at me, Erwin." Levi said as he too began to stare out the window, "You're the one who suggested that we start this damn club. I just went along because I trust your judgement."

"Oh?" Erwin cockily replied, "And you trust my judgement on this decision as well?"

Levi continued to gaze onwards out of the window, he could see the entire courtyard, as well as the few students that remained for clubs were just now leaving. He thought about how they were just leaving, but Erwin, Mike and him still had at least an hour's work ahead of them. He then noticed that the sun was beginning to set, and how it caused gorgeous shades of orange, red, and yellow to paint the sky; all of them dancing a beautiful waltz across the horizon.

"Do I really have a choice?" Levi responded.

Erwin smiled as he patted Levi on the back and answered, "No, I suppose you don't."

The two began walking out of the room as Levi stated, "I don't know how the fuck we're going to stand another three years of this…"

Erwin chuckled as he held the door open for Levi and replied, "Neither do I, my friend. Neither do I." Erwin closed the door as the two began to casually walk down the hall. "I guess we're like, the school's-no, _Humanity's _strongest." Erwin smiled a weird smile, one that Levi had never seen before.

Levi's face thoroughly displayed his shock, and he replied, "You're creepy, you know that?"

Erwin smiled as he replied, "People have told me that since I was little."

"And what's with all this 'Humanity's strongest' shit?" Levi inquired as the two began to walk down the stairs, "What shounen animanga did you get that one from?"

Erwin just laughed heartily as the two continued down the stairs and out to the parking lot.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Erwin snapped back to reality after a few seconds of staring up at Levi. Well, after Armin snapped his fingers in front of him to wake him up, that is.

"Hello~?" Hange sang out as she waved her hand in front of Erwin, "Erwin~?"

"Hm? What?" Erwin inquired as he regained his surroundings.

"I _said_," Hange reiterated, "We didn't leave you with too much work!"

"Oh, sorry." Erwin apologized, "I was…out of it." Erwin shook his head as he replied, "And, yes you did."

"What?!" Gunther exclaimed, "Are we just gonna forget the times that you guys had 'business' and left us to write scripts, make costumes, etcetera?!"

"Yeah," Eld chimed in, "And what about the time that-"

"Oh, stop your whining." Oluo grunted from over in the corner, "And be grateful they've kept us around as long as they have."

"When you stop _your _trying to mimic Levi." Hange retorted with a smug grin.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about…" Oluo replied as he retreated to his corner.

"Suuure you don't…" Hange replied, her voice peppered with trepidation.

As the crew laughed and continued their conversation, the van began to slow down. Levi called out, "Oi! We're here." from the driver's compartment, eliciting cries of excitement from the crew. Levi expertly slid into a parking space that wasn't far from the restaurant's entrance, and called, "Alright, get out. Let's go."

The restaurant itself was a nice homely building. It was the size of your typical café, but in the middle of nowhere, painted dark blue (except for the shingled roof that had big red letters on it that read, 'RESTAURANT'), and had a surprising number of cars around it. Inside, it had simple leather seated chairs, wooden fold-up tables (although there were some booths that were padded with faux-leather, as well as a small bar back in the far left of the restaurant that looked like it served everything from alcohol to shakes), and your average containers for creamer, sugar, jelly, salt, pepper, napkins, etc.. It also had various memorabilia from various periods in history, giving it a slightly nostalgic air, and the tables had plastic-like picnic-style tablecloths on them. All sorts of people were inside, some old, some not much older than high school seniors or college sophomores, from all walks of life. Notable among them, were a group of three students who appeared to be about high school age, that had their faces buried in their menus. Eren thought something seemed familiar about them, but decided to pay it no mind, and just continue on to the group's table.

After hanging up their jackets at a small room that was just before the main dining area, they found a suitable area of the restaurant all the way in the back, and slid two tables together around a booth, then dragged some chairs from the neighboring tables and made enough for the group of 17. On one side of the table, in the chairs, sat the sophomores, all except for Ymir and Historia, who somehow weaseled their way onto the far corner of the booth, and were deep in each other's embrace and eyes. As you can probably tell, on the other side, the comfy booth, sat the seniors, who exerted their upperclassmen privileges and grabbed the comfiest space they could. After giving the sophomores looks of 'We're sorry' and many shrugs, the sophomores just laughed it off, and began to go through the menus.

"I must say," Eren spoke up, "I'm surprised at their vast selection of food." Eren looked over to Levi, who had given up his booth seat for some odd reason, and decided to sit to Eren's left, "How did you ever stumble upon this place?"

Levi folded up his menu, sat it neatly on the table, and replied, "I like to take long drives to just be to myself. One day, I was out here, hungry, and noticed this little place." Levi looked around at the people that were there other than the crew, there were about 12 or so, "Not many people come here, but the ones that do are regulars, and keep this place pretty hush hush, since they like the peace and quiet away from the hum drum of normal city restaurants."

"It makes sense." Jean chimed in as he perused the menu, eyeing the chicken salad, "If word got out, I think this place would change drastically."

"And not for the better." Added Marco who had skipped straight to the dessert section. Jean chuckled at his friend's obvious sweet tooth; he had always been that way, but refused to admit it, and generally ate well in public. But when left to his own means, it had to be sweet, or Marco practically refused to eat it.

"This all looks fantastic!" Connie exclaimed as he leafed through the various sections of the menu. Sasha was practically salivating as well at everything before her, but refused to let it show in front of Eren, and covered her face with a

"All the ingredients used here are grown on the farm of the family that owns this restaurant," Petra explained, she too was eyeing the many delicacies that lay before her, "or they're imported from friends of the family."

"And that's what keeps bringing people back." Gunther added, "Good food, and a wholesome, quiet environment."

"In all the times that I've been here," Mike added as he laid his menu down, "it's always been when we had to discuss business, so I'm glad I get a casual break."

"Yeah, business really does get in the way of leisure." Armin lamented.

"No, it's not that." Mike replied.

The sophomores cocked their heads in confusion, as Marco inquired, "Then what is it about?"

"When I'm here on business," Mike replied, "I don't have any free time to enjoy the fantastic aromas from the kitchen!"

The sophomores and even the seniors all gave Mike a look of, 'Wow, really?' before returning to their menus.

After a few minutes, a cute brunette waitress in a full dark-red waitress uniform came up to the table and inquired, "Hi, thanks for coming tonight, I'm May, I'll be your waitress tonight!" with plenty of jubilation, "So what will everyone be having today?"

The crew all exchanged looks of unsureness and then Eren spoke up and inquired, "Um, some of us are still unsure yet, could we just get some water?"

"You're cute!" The waitress replied as she proceeded to lay a hand on Eren's shoulder.

Mikasa clenched the sides of the menu she was holding tightly, proceeding to crumple the edges. Sasha drew back in horror, and almost fell off of her chair, thankfully Armin and Connie caught her.

Erwin just shot a look at Levi, who countered with his normal emotionless expression, but he seemed to be holding something back. Levi looked over to the waitress, and said, "May, aren't you on duty?"

"Oh, some people are no fun!" The waitress groaned as she shoved Eren away, and into Mikasa's arms directly to his right.

"Thanks for that." Eren said to Mikasa as he got back into his seat.

"N-no problem…" Mikasa replied as she hugged herself with the very arms that just held Eren.

"Anyways…so just water for now?" May inquired.

The group collectively nodded and gave gesture of concurrence.

"Alright, I'll have those in a minute." May replied as she began to walk towards the kitchen, "Oh," she called back, "and hi, Levi!"

Levi cringed at her callout, and simply waved a shaky 'hello' back. May then went back to the kitchen, as the group all began to stare at Levi.

Mike, Eld, Oluo, Gunther, and even Erwin chuckled devilish chuckles as Eld said, "My _my_ Levi…what is this new development?"

Levi stared directly into Eld's eyes as he replied, "Calm the fuck down…I'm a regular here, so I doubt there isn't a waitress here that doesn't know my name…"

"So you _are _a playboy…" Gunther replied as he laughed maniacally with the rest of the guys. Even the sophomore guys began to giggle a little bit, and the sophomore girls began to look at Levi with disgust.

"Oh, stop it guys…" Eren said as he put his arm around Levi, "You know that he's not that type of guy."

Levi cast a glance at Eren, and then cast one over to Mikasa who by now, had all but destroyed her menu. "If they want to be immature like that, then that's their prerogative. I expect as much from sophomores," Levi turned his glare towards the seniors, "but you guys…" the seniors could almost feel the holes forming in their flesh from Levi's eyes boring them, "never mind, I expect as much from them as well…" Levi sighed a deep sigh as he seemed to lean into Eren, causing Petra to squeal out of jealousy a little bit.

"That's the spirit!" Eren replied as he gave Levi a thumbs up and a smile.

"Say, Eren," Armin spoke up as he looked over to Eren, "did you notice those three over there?" Armin pointed over to the three people over at the table that wasn't too far away from them.

Eren took his arm off of Levi, and looked over to the table. Their faces were still buried in their menus, making it difficult to place their ages, but it appeared to be two boys, one blonde, and one black-haired, and one blonde girl. For some reason, they seemed familiar…but no one could quite place them.

"They don't appear to be anyone special…" Eren replied, "What do you think, Mikasa?"

"Huh?" Mikasa replied, "You're asking me?"

"You usually have a pretty good sense about these things," Eren replied, "of course I am!" he flashed a smile at Mikasa when he finished that sentence.

Mikasa blushed as she replied, "W-well…" she gave the trio a once-over, and then replied, "I don't think they're anything special, we're fine…"

"See, Armin," Eren cockily said to Armin, "what did I tell you?"

"Don't be too quick to judge, Eren." Mike stated. Eren turned to mike with a puzzled look on his face as Mike continued, "It smells…off in here. Whenever I was in here in the past, I only smelled happiness and good food," Mike inhaled deeply, then replied, "but now the air here is stained with subtle hints of avarice, and hostility…"

"Eren," Gunther spoke up, catching Eren's attention, "I think you're safer off trusting Mike on this one."

"He's right," Eld added, "Mike's got a sense of premonition seconded only by Levi and Erwin."

"As much as I hate to agree with these guys…" Oluo began, "I have to in this situation. There's something fishy here, kid."

"Oh, stop it!" Hange moaned, "You're scaring the kid!"

"With good reason, though!" Oluo retorted.

"Stop it, all of you!" Erwin declared, capturing the attention of everyone at the table. "We came here to enjoy ourselves, so let's do just that! Dispel all of these suspicions, and let's just relax and enjoy the time we have together!"

The group all settled back down, and nodded. Resuming their normal conversations. Marco, Jean, and Connie got back into some argument about something or other, Sasha and Mikasa began their ever going war for Eren's attention, only to be interrupted by Levi who got Eren started on one thing or another. Armin was in a casual conversation with Erwin and Eld about set design for the play, and they were trying to decide where to buy supplies from. Hange was in a heated debacle with Oluo, and Petra was left to talk with Gunther about this and that, and Gunther often prodded her to try and talk to Levi, maybe confess…however, each time he tried, his efforts were rewarded with a squeal and a blush redder than anyone had ever seen. After a few minutes, May came back out with a tray of glasses of water. She gave each individual person a glass of water, then inquired,

"So, do we all know what we want, or…?"

"We're still on the fence," Eren spoke up, "sorry…can we have a minute more or two?"

"You sure you don't wanna go out some time?" May inquired as she put her hand on Eren's head and played with his hair.

"_**May**_…" Levi sharply stated as he turned his head to May. May sighed as she took her hand off of Eren's head and went back towards the kitchen.

"Wait a minute…" Marco spoke up, "who's the one person that hasn't made up their mind? I mean, I've made up my mind, and I assume everyone else has-"

"Actually…" Erwin spoke up, "I haven't decided yet."

The rest of the crew all spoke up and gave replies of "neither have I" which was followed by a "same here", as Marco hung his head in disappointment at the group.

Eren sipped his water, and replied, "It's alright guys, we have plenty of time. And I'm just fine even if we don't eat anything! I'm having fun just talking with you guys-"

"**EREN, LOOK OUT!**" Mike exclaimed as he pointed behind Eren.

Eren began to spun around a little to late, as he felt a strong hand grab his hair and slam his face into the table, and a commanding voice whisper, "Shh…"

Levi began to spring into action, as well as Mikasa, but both of them were met with hands wrapping around their stomachs, and knifes held to their throats. Ymir backed up, and held Historia tighter than ever, and cupped her hand over her mouth to stifle her screams. Erwin tensed up, and grimaced at the assailants, along with the rest of the crew, as the man behind the voice lifted Eren's bloody face up from the table.

Eren could feel blood trickle down from his nose, as he turned to see who his assailants were. "_Reiner…_" he muttered as he spit a little bit.

Reiner chuckled as he smashed Eren's face into the table again, and replied, "Damn right, who else?"

Reiner jerked Eren's head up, and Eren took the opportunity to get his wits about him. He saw Bertolt holding Levi back with a knife held to his neck, and another blonde girl whom he didn't recognize (although you couldn't miss her nose…) holding back Mikasa, knife drawn as well. "You're a real bastard, you know that Reiner?" Eren said as he spit again, this time it was blood.

"Is that so?" Reiner replied, as he jerked Eren's head around to face him, and continued, "Because given the current circumstances," he gestured to the crew, then to Mikasa and Levi, "I don't think that you're in a position to make that kind of comment." Reiner grabbed Eren's shirt collar, and threw him to the floor, where he proceeded to curb stomp Eren once or twice, before commenting, "You brought this on yourself, you know?"

Eren gasped for air as he looked up and asked, "What-" Eren violently hacked, "What do you mean?!"

"Don't play dumb, you little prick!" Bertolt called, "Hey, don't squirm so much!" Levi fought Bertolt's grasp as Bertolt continued to tenuously hold the knife.

"Yeah, calm it, Ackerman." The blonde girl lamented as she did her best to keep Mikasa in check, but it was no small task, as Mikasa was slightly taller than her.

"Bertolt, Annie," Reiner called, "Keep the sister and Yeager's boyfriend there in check."

"B-" Eren muttered as he stifled a cough and felt a weird mixture of blood and spittle dribble down from the side of his mouth as he spoke, "Boyfriend?"

"Shut up, Yeager!" Reiner said as he forcefully brought his boot to Eren's face and held it there. "Look Yeager, I'm not a bad guy." Reiner mused, "I'm just a guy after his own ambitions. But when people break promises," Upon this words, Reiner took the opportunity to grind his boot into Eren's face as Eren screamed a stifled scream, "or just do dumb shit in general, like you, then I'm prone to do dumb shit in return. Savvy?" Reiner let up his boot so that Eren could talk.

Eren shoved Reiner's boot off of his face and then scrambled to his knees, and stared down at the ground. He watched as blood streamed from his face, and Eren was borderline throwing up as he saw the pool of blood form before him. "It…was…wrong from the start, and you know it Reiner!"

Erwin all this time was sitting back, calm as ever. While the rest of the crew was falling into panic, he was giving a blank expression to the assailant trio. He picked up his glass of water, took a sip and said, "You might want to give up you know?"

Reiner stiffened up as he turned his head to Erwin and said, "I'm sorry. I thought I told you all to keep quiet…or else…"

He shot a look to Bertolt who fumbled a little bit, and just gave a look of confusion to Reiner. Reiner sighed then gestured to the knife and Levi, then made a throat slitting motion, and Bertolt finally got the hint. Bertolt put the blade directly on Levi's throat, just hard enough to not pierce flesh, then held it there, his body intensely sweating, and his hand shaking horribly.

"What are you waiting for Bertolt?! Do it?!" Reiner exclaimed as he grabbed Eren by the shirt collar, hoisted him up off of the ground, and slammed him into a nearby wall.

"Y-yeah…o-okay Reiner…" Bertolt stuttered as he looked down at Levi, who cast his usual unemotional glance up at Bertolt.

Erwin brought the glass of water to his lips again, as he nodded to Mike and said, "This is good water…"

Mike gave an endearing look to Erwin as he sipped his water and replied, "Indeed. Is that lemon I detect in there…"

"Why I do believe it is, Mike…" Erwin lamented, as he took another sip, "I do believe it is…"

Levi glanced up at Bertolt, who was still quivering and sweating furiously, and then cast a glance back at Erwin, who he knew was up to something. _'Erwin, you sly bastard…' _Levi thought to himself, _'You really are creepy…' _Levi then looked over to Eren, who was still held up against the wall, and being dealt blow after blow to the gut by Reiner. He returned his glance to Erwin and mouthed the words, "Do it."

Erwin noticed that, and smile a little bit before enacting his plan. He took the glass that he had to his lips, and threw it with all his might at Bertolt. A beautiful shattering sound filled the restaurant as Bertolt drew back in pain, and grasped his head where the glass had impacted. At that same moment, Mike rose up and did the exact same thing, shouting at Mikasa to duck, and then beaning Annie right in the face, causing her to shriek a piercing shriek. Levi took the opportunity of freedom that he had to run towards Eren, leaving Mikasa to deal with Bertolt and Annie. Reiner had noticed Annie's cries, dropped Eren, and turned around to see Levi running towards him, and reacted far too late to avoid Levi dealing him a sift blow to the kneecap, causing it to actually cave inwards, and making Reiner fall to his face, and wail himself. The crack of Reiner's bone could be heard throughout the restaurant, as well as the thud of Eren's body hitting the linoleum floor. Eren crawled to his knees as he regurgitated a strange mixture of blood and vomit. Eren got his wits about him enough to see the looks of horror on the crew's faces as Mikasa slammed Annie onto a table, then dealt Bertolt a kick to the gut, leveling him to his knees, then slammed his face onto her knee. She turned her attention back to Annie, who had gotten up from the table, and had assumed a rogue fighting stance. Mikasa threw a punch, that was easily intercepted by Annie, and countered with her own punch, that connected nicely with Mikasa's jaw. Mikasa recoiled a little, but resumed her fighting pose, then dodged another jab from Annie, and swept her feet out from under her, dropping her to the ground. Mikasa picked up the girl, and held her to the wall, calling out to Erwin,

"Get Bertolt!"

Erwin obliged, and gave a gesture to Mike to give him some help. Mike rose up after finishing his water, and sauntered over to Bertolt, and looked down at him, saying, "Back to the wall, mate."

Bertolt cowered at the sight of someone who was actually taller than him, and obeyed dutifully, slamming himself into the wall, and didn't turn around until instructed to do so.

Levi kneeled down to Eren's level, and said, "How many times am I going to have to save your sorry ass?…" as he threw his tuxedo jacket around Eren, who was still quite dazed from the whole ordeal.

Eren managed to chuckle as he replied, "As many times as I get my sorry ass into these situations, I guess…"

Levi smiled as he helped Eren up, and then looked over to Reiner, who was still moaning slightly at his injury. He noticed he was trying to get up, and was on his hands and one knee before Levi kicked him brutally in the gut to subdue him. "Unless you want _your _guts spilled out before you and your companions, I suggest you leave this place right now…"

Reiner coughed up some blood of his own, then rose to his feet and observed the situation. Annie was lying on the floor, Mikasa towering over her, grinding her foot into her face. And Bertolt was his usual self, cowering in a corner, with Erwin and Mike keeping a watchful eye on him. He chuckled as he replied, "Yeah…" he looked up towards Bertolt and Annie, and said, "Let 'em up Ackerman, and you two blondies, we're leaving…"

Mikasa graciously allowed Annie up, but not before giving her one final kick in the nose. Erwin and Mike backed off, and Bertolt still cowered there, frozen with fear.

Reiner began to hobble back to the table where they were sitting, and put a five dollar bill down on the table, before he began to hobble towards the exit. He called back to Annie and Bertolt, "Well c'mon!"

Annie cast a glance over to Levi, who was still comforting Eren, and then back to Mikasa who scowled in return. She then motioned to Bertolt, who gladly ran after her as she too followed Reiner towards the exit.

As soon as they were gone, Mikasa ran over to Eren, and immediately threw the arm that wasn't around Levi around her. "Eren!" Mikasa exclaimed, "Eren! Are you okay?!"

As Eren, Levi, and Mikasa rose up from the ground, and began to walk back towards the table, Levi grabbed Eren's chin, and turned his far towards him. He inspected Eren's face, running his fingers across his features, including his nose, jaw, and lips.

"Well, he does have a nice face…" Levi lamented as he gazed at Eren, who was still quite out of it.

Mikasa's face darkened as she inquired, "I said, _is he fine_…"

"My, my…" Levi said as he continued to stare at Eren's face, "you certainly care a lot about him…even for a sister."

Mikasa blushed a small bit, but hid it behind a mask of fury at Levi.

"Yes, he's fine." Levi replied, "More over, he will be, after we get him patched up." Levi ran his hand across Eren's nose, then said, "His nose isn't broken, just bleeding profusely." He scoped out the rest of Eren's body, "As for the rest of him, he appears to be quite alright. I must say, he's got a surprising amount of muscle on him, I'm impressed."

"Well, he does work out, you know?" Mikasa replied as she too marveled at Eren's surprisingly masculine physique.

"I can tell…" Levi lamented, "Let's go, we need to get him fixed up. I think Four Eyes keeps a medical kit in the van somewhere, we'll let her handle it."

"Thank…you…" Eren sputtered as he coughed a little bit, this time, a significantly smaller amount of blood came out.

"Eren!" Mikasa replied as she full on embraced Eren.

"Mi.. .." Eren groaned, "I…can't…breathe…"

Mikasa released Eren and then threw his arm back around her shoulder. "S-sorry, Eren…"

"It's fine…" Eren replied, managing a smile, "thanks again, both of you…" Eren looked into the faces of his sister, and Levi, and then into the faces of the rest of the Drama Club, as he walked out of the restaurant. Well, more like hobbled, but you get the picture…

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

_A/N: Hey guys, so I should probably apologize for being so late on the updating of this story. Last Sunday I had issues with my Internet connection, and the Sundays before I had issues with my schoolwork interfering with my publishing, for all of which I'm dreadfully sorry. But, weekly updates are back, and are here to stay!_

_So it seems Reiner and his companions aren't down for the count, and who is this new girl, 'Annie'? What will she bring to the party? And what will the Drama Club's play be?_

_All of these answers and more in the next chapter of, '**High School Daze**_'!

_Until next week, please read and review! And if you're nice enough, please add this story to your favorites, and follow it to keep up on the updates concerning this story! And even if you don't, I appreciate the fact that you've taken the time to read this far! I love you guys!_

_Until next time!_


	4. Dinner and a Kiss!

_A/N: Hey, Jean! It's great to have you here!_

"Well it's uh, good to be here, I guess? Wherever 'here' is…"

_Oh yeah, I should probably explain. You're in the A/N!_

"The Author's Note?"

_Yeah, it's this little thing I do at the beginning of each chapter, and I always have someone else host it!_

"Why don't you do it yourself, eh?"

_Because it's more fun if one of you guys does it!_

"Oh, well…thanks!"

_No problem! I must say, you're much more amicable than Mikasa when I invited her…_

*blush* "M-M-Mikasa was here?!"

_Yeah, not too long ago actually. In fact, she just left-Jean?_

[Empty space]

_I'm getting sick and tired of doing these A/Ns by myself, you know?…*sigh* In any case, welcome to another chapter of "__**High School Daze**__"! If you'll recall, Eren just suffered another encounter with Reiner, Bertolt, and their companion Annie, who Eren seems to hold some prior knowledge of. After an intense fight, Eren was last seen being dragged out to the van, battered and broken._

_And the story continues…_

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Eren winced as Hange liberally applied the solution to his face. The two sat in the back of the van, alone. Eren was still visibly wounded, but not as severely as he was prior to Hange's first aid treatments. She had wrapped a few bandages around the more severe wounds that Reiner had inflicted on his chest, and had been working hard to patch up his face as best she could. His nose had been complicated, Hange had been sure that Reiner had broken it, but it turned out that he had just cracked one of Eren's teeth. On the surface, Eren looked reasonably alright. Though, looks can be deceiving…

"Ah!" Eren winced meekly as Hange applied more of the solution to the wound on his face.

"Does it hurt?" Hange inquired as she dipped the swab in the bottle of solution.

"A little…" Eren replied as he rubbed the still open wound from Reiner's boot on his face.

"Really?" Hange excitedly inquired, "Where? How?"

"Eh?" Eren responded, puzzled by Hange's sudden fascination with his pain.

Suddenly, the doors to the back of the van swung open, and on the other side was Armin and Mikasa.

They both climbed in the back of the van, as Hange scooted to the side to make some room. Armin gazed upon his friend, pondering over how he had gotten himself into this situation a second time, and Mikasa embraced Eren while she was in tears. Eren gave a reassuring nod to Armin, and then returned Mikasa's embrace, as he closed his eyes and wondered himself how he got into this situation.

After a few minutes, he broke the embrace with Mikasa and told her, "It's okay, I'm fine." In a reassuring tone.

Mikasa wiped her eyes of the tears that stained them and her cheeks as well, and replied, "You sure?"

Eren wiped the last tear from her face and replied, "Yeah, Hange's been patching me up, so if I rest back here in the van, I'll be alright. Mikasa, are you ok?"

Mikasa cocked her head to the side and inquired, "What do you mean?"

"You took a hit from Annie earlier," Eren explained, "it looked like it hurt."

"She couldn't hurt me, even if she tried!" Mikasa retorted with gusto, "That was nothing!"

Eren nodded and smiled cheerily, although he noticed it looked like Mikasa had been wiping blood away from her mouth…

"We're gonna miss you at dinner, Eren." Armin said as he choked out a smile.

"It's fine!" Eren replied, as he reached out and put his hand on his friend's shoulder, "Just have as much fun as you can."

Armin nodded as he replied, "If you say so…"

"Do you want us to bring you anything?" Mikasa inquired.

"Yeah, Levi told me to ask you that before he went back in." Hange added as she boxed up her medical supplies.

Eren sighed as he thought about how Levi had dragged him out here, and then just left. He didn't know what it was, but he longed for Levi's presence. Something about him, his aura, his presence…comforted Eren.

Mikasa noted Eren's sigh, and said, "Is there something wrong?"

Eren stiffened up as he replied, "N-no. I was just…thinking about something, but it's fine now!"

Armin and Mikasa gave Eren looks of doubt, but let it slide, thinking that Reiner just kicked his head a little too hard. Hange gave Eren an excited smile and inquired, "So, back to the pain…"

Eren recoiled at Hange's question and replied, "Um…I should, uh, probably sleep! I mean, I need my rest right?!"

Hange hung her head low and replied, "Awww…but the pain won't be fresh anymore if you sleep!"

"Why does it matter?…" Eren inquired as he began to move towards the front end of the back of the van, where Hange had laid out his blanket and a makeshift pillow made out her sweatshirt.

"You didn't answer us." Mikasa stated as Eren laid down.

"Eh?" Eren inquired as he sat up in his makeshift bed.

"We asked you if you want us to bring you anything," Armin reiterated, "and you didn't answer us."

"Oh, yeah…" Eren replied, "Um, just, whatever's good I guess!"

"That's pretty vague, man." Armin replied, "Can't you just decide on something?"

"Um, well I could…" Eren meekly said, "but I don't remember what's on the menu!"

"They have pretty much anything, Eren." Mikasa responded, "Just say it, and we'll bring it when our food gets here."

Eren skittishly looked left and right at Mikasa and Armin respectively, and replied, "Um…I guess…"

"Um…if I may make a suggestion…" Hange spoke up, "Eren, you took some serious blows to the stomach, so if you're going to get something, I suggest something light and easy to digest." Hange shrugged as she added, "Or, you might just want to get something to drink, and then eat later when you're stomach's more at ease."

Eren nodded in agreement as he replied, "Y-yeah! Um, Mikasa, Armin, I think I'll just have a small root beer, if that's okay."

Armin smiled as he nodded and said, "Yeah, sure!"

"We'll bring it out to you later!" Mikasa added as she began to leave the van. "Get better soon!"

"Yeah! Thanks!" Eren called out as the duo left. Hange was about to leave before Eren called out to her, "Oh, Hange!"

Hange turned her head towards Eren and inquired, "What is it?"

Eren smiled as he said, "Thanks for that."

Hange smiled as well, and replied, "Just make sure to tell me how it hurts when I come back!"

Eren gave Hange a thumbs up and she left the van, leaving Eren alone to his thoughts.

Eren laid down and curled up in his blanket, beginning to think of all of what had just happened. He grimaced at the ceiling, and felt absolutely furious at himself. _'Why?' _he thought to himself, _'Why did I get myself mixed up in something like this? And more importantly, __**how**__? If I had just said 'no'…just said…' _Eren closed his eyes as he felt himself drift off. He dreamed of Reiner and his goons, of how Mikasa and Levi had put themselves on the line for him again because he was too miserably pathetic. He could feel himself tossing and turning, as he threw a punch at the floor of the van and exclaimed, "**NO!**"

At that instant, the doors to the back of the van swung open, and Levi and Erwin stood on the other side, startled expressions painted their faces.

Eren turned to the duo and simply gasped out some odd noises, undecipherable by anyone.

Levi broke the silence as he held up a styrofoam cup, shaking the ice and beverage within as he stated, "Well damn, if you didn't want root beer, you should've just said so."

"O-oh," Eren stammered out as he rose out of his blanket, "It's not that. I…just…had a bad dream, that's all!"

Erwin nodded as he climbed in the van with Levi in tow and inquired, "Wanna talk about it?"

"No…" Eren shook his head in reply, "I'm fine…in fact, I should be thanking you and Mike for back there."

Erwin chuckled as he replied, "What did I ever do?"

"Don't play coy, Erwin." Eren responded, "I've never seen a more expertly thrown glass in my life; and with such speed as well. Plus, you managed to communicate to Mike your plan perfectly."

"Because, unlike you," Levi stated as he crossed his legs and sat down, "Mike has depth perception." Levi leaned back against the van and continued, "You also owe that waitress ten bucks for the cups."

Eren shrugged in acknowledgement, and hung his head a little lower as he said, "I'm sorry you had to bail my ass out again…really I am."

"It's fine, really." Erwin replied, "In fact, I'm proud of you."

"What?" Eren inquired as he perked up and cocked his head to Erwin, cupping his hand over his ear.

"Levi informs me," Erwin began, "that when he first rescued you, you were standing up for yourself in the face of insurmountable odds. And now, you survived being kicked at full force by someone far stronger than you, wearing steel toed boot no less!" Erwin gestured to Eren's head, "You display not only remarkable mental strength," Erwin proceeded to gesture to the rest of Eren's body, "but physical strength as well. I'm proud to call you a friend, Eren Yeager."

Erwin held out his hand, which Eren gladly shook as he responded, "Thank you, Erwin." with a smile.

Levi scooted over closer to Eren as he held out Eren's root beer and said, "Four Eyes said you wanted this?"

Eren accepted the beverage and said, "Uh, yes. Thank you." He brought the plastic straw to his lips, and a chill coursed through his body as he felt the liquid's refreshment rejuvenate him. He set the cup down, and Levi reached into his jacket and produced another straw, still in its wrapper. He swiftly unwrapped the straw, tossed the paper wrapper off to the side, and stuck the straw into Eren's cup.

Erwin cocked his head at this, prompting Eren to interrupt the conversation he was having with him at the time and investigate. He looked down at the cup, then up at Levi who stared back at Eren with his dashing emerald eyes that seemed to glimmer now, and simply uttered, "Eh?"

Levi shrugged, and replied, "What? I'm thirsty too."

Eren gave a subtle look to Erwin who merely shrugged and returned a look that said, 'I don't know, just go with it…', to which Eren nodded as if to say, 'Okay…whatever you say…'.

Eren picked up his cup, and leaned in to take a sip, but recoiled and almost dropped the cup when he was met by Levi's face, hardly a hand's length away from his. He too was taking a sip of the drink, but broke the sip to say, "What's wrong?"

"N-n-nothing, I guess…" Eren sheepishly muttered as he drew back in to the cup.

Levi scoffed as he replied, "You're weird…"

Eren did his best to avoid eye contact with Levi when he went for a sip, but it was difficult when Levi always took a drink whenever Eren did. To make it even worse, Levi had this aura about him that Eren couldn't help but be drawn in by; his eyes especially. No matter how hard Eren tried, he couldn't help but avoid Levi's piercing emerald green eyes. Yet, whenever Levi made contact with Eren, those eyes lost their intimidating nature, and seemed to take on a more…amicable nature. They looked so inviting…

Eren was brought back to reality by a knock on the head from Levi, who said, "Stop staring like that, it's creepy."

Eren shook his head back and forth, then looked up at Levi who flashed a quick, but sure, smile. Eren smiled broadly in return, and Erwin could only laugh at the whole scene.

"What's…so funny?" Eren inquired as he looked around the barren van.

Erwin controlled his laughter enough to utter out, "It's nothing! Don't worry!"

Levi drew back in slight fear of Erwin's hearty laughter, and then turned to Eren's face to notice a small scar, just above his left eyebrow. Levi leaned in forward, pushed Eren's hair aside, and inquired, "What's up with the battle scar?"

Eren looked up to where Levi was pointing, and replied, "Oh, that!" Eren let out a little chuckle and continued, "That's from a _long _time ago. I think I got that in about fifth or sixth grade, I normally just cover it up with my hair, though, so no one really notices."

"How'd that come about?" Erwin inquired as he too leaned in to examine the scar.

"It's nothing, really!" Eren replied as he lifted Levi's hand off of his face, and dusted his hair back into place. "How did you even notice it in the first place?"

Eren was unsure, but he thought he saw Levi stiffen up the slightest bit before he replied, "One of your cuts is on your face, right near it. I was looking at that and then I noticed it."

Eren nodded in acknowledgement and then said, "Hey, aren't they going to miss you guys at dinner?"

"It's alright," Erwin replied, "we can stay here a little longer if you want."

Levi shrugged in agreement.

"I'm fine, really." Eren reassured the duo, "I'm just a little shaken up, that's all. I don't want the rest of the group to suffer on my behalf, really. Now you guys go on back in there, and have a good time, ok?"

Erwin chuckled as he responded, "If you say so, Eren. But if you need anything, just text one of us, and we'll come out, alright?"

"Um," Eren sheepishly began, "I…don't have any of you guys' numbers."

"Seriously?" Levi stated as he aloofly fluffed his bangs, "God, you're out of the loop…"

"Sorry…" Eren apologized in his meekest tone possible.

Erwin reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. He slid across the screen and unlocked it, and inquired, "Alright Eren, what's your number?"

Eren rattled off his phone number, and Erwin put it in number by number in perfect synchronization with Eren's words, then stated, "Alright, get in a good position."

"Eh?" Eren inquired as he recoiled and ruffled up his blanket.

Erwin raised up his phone and stated, "Well, I need a picture of you for your contact in my phone. Now c'mon, strike a pose!"

Eren awkwardly shifted between several poses, none of which satisfied him, but all of which provided Erwin with a good laugh. Even Levi uttered a chuckle or two at Eren's odd poses, but he buried his face in his cravat to muffle his laughter. After a few minutes, Levi scooted over to Eren, thew his arm around his left shoulder, laid his head down on his right shoulder, and struck a peace sign.

"Hurry!" Levi exclaimed. Erwin reacted with lighting-speed reflexes and Eren gazed down at Levi right as Erwin snapped the picture. The instant Eren heard the camera shutter noise, he wailed out of horror. Thankfully, his wailing face wasn't caught, and Erwin chuckled as he set that picture for Eren's contact.

"I'll text you the senior's numbers later, as well as mine." Erwin said as he began to exit the van, "C'mon, Levi."

Levi cast one more glance at Eren, then followed suit with Erwin, and left Eren alone in the van again.

It wasn't but a few minutes later that Eren felt his phone vibrate. He pulled it out, and saw a notification that read: "iMessage: New Message!". He slid his thumb across the notification and iMessage opened up, showing a new message with the classic small blue bubble next to it. It was from an unrecognized number, but Eren soon figured out from reading the message's contents who it was.

**Eren, it's me, Erwin. I've enclosed my number as well as the numbers for the rest of the seniors. Everyone's doing fine, we hope you're doing the same. Dinner should be over in a while, hold tight until then!**

At the end of the message, Erwin had enclosed a picture of the crew all eating. Eren took a few minutes to save everyone's numbers, and then began to inspect the picture. Mike could be seen out of the right corner trying to get himself closer to the camera, Hange appeared to be squealing out of delight at the sumptuous piece of whatever she was having that she just put in her mouth, much to Levi's obvious discontent, who was sitting across from her with Petra across from him as well, who was gazing longingly at Levi. However, there was something about Levi; something about the expression in his normally expressionless, unemotional eyes that made him seem…sad, but Eren disregarded it and looked further onward at the picture. Oluo could be seen sticking his hand up in front of his face in an extremely annoyed fashion, and Eld next to him was smiling and waving at the camera. Gunther had his arm around Eld, but when Eren looked closely, he could see Gunther was actually giving Eld bunny ears with his index and middle fingers. Eren chuckled at that, and continued to gaze upon the picture, as he saw Sasha stuffing her face in an absolutely ravenous manner, and Connie and Marco next to her, who were recoiling and drawing away at this apparently starved beast. Armin and Jean were in another one of their arguments, but Eren quickly figured out what this one was over when he saw a single piece of fried chicken in front of them, and both with each of one of their hands, fork held, hovering over it. Behind Armin, he could see Mikasa, who appeared to be trying to slyly sneak her hand in between Armin and Jean, and snag the food for herself. Eren couldn't help but laugh out loud at his sister's antics. He also saw Ymir and Historia, who were over in the corner, sharing a kiss, and about to feed one another. Eren let out a little "Aww!" at that, but right as he did that, the heard someone outside the van doors. He quickly saved the picture, smiled, and stowed his phone in his pocket.

_'And what lies behind Door Number 3?' _Eren thought to himself, mimicking a game show host voice with the one in his head, as the door opened, and a suave looking Mike, Gunther, and Eld stood on the other side.

Eren chuckled as the three climbed in and he stated, "I'm beginning to think that you're all just taking turns coming out to see me."

"You wouldn't be wrong." Eld stated as he and the rest sat down. "We thought you'd need some company every now and again while all of us have our fun."

"Yeah," Mike added, "I mean, all alone, out in this dump of a van."

"Hey!" Gunther exclaimed as he turned to Mike, "I just cleaned this thing yesterday!"

"Yeah, but you don't do it as good as Levi." Mike replied.

"I mean, have you _seen _this thing after he cleans it?" Eld inquired. "It fucking sparkles!"

Eren laughed at the senior's antics, and then stated, "Oh yeah, Mike."

Mike turned his head from the debacle and inquired, "Hm?"

"Thanks," Eren stated, "for saving me back there."

Mike chuckled as he extended his arm, placed his hand on Eren's shoulder, and replied, "Think nothing of it."

Eren smiled as Gunther sated, "Mike, the way you threw that glass, though." Gunther clapped his hands, "It was just out of this world, man!"

Mike snickered as he put his left hand on his right shoulder, and gave it a few rolls as he replied, "Well, I _did_ play baseball for 10 years straight. I still play every now and again, recreationally of course."

The group's jaws dropped as Eren stated, "_Ten years!?_"

"That's right, buddy boy." Mike replied, "With a 92 mile an hour fastball."

The groups jaws dropped even further, and Gunther stammered out, "N-n-ninety-two miles per hour?"

"Definitely." Mike replied, "I must commend that girl, Annie was it? She took my pitch right to the skull, and was only dazed." Mike looked up, thought about it a minute, and then continued, "Then again, I had no wind up. So it probably wasn't as fast as it could've been."

"Then I guess you let her off easily," Gunther stated as he leaned back against the van, "this time."

The group nodded in agreement, and continued with their conversation. They got on all sorts of topics, but then, Eren brought up one in particular.

"Hey, I have a question." Eren stated.

"What is it?" Eld inquired.

"Um, when you guys left the school," Eren began, "what play was leading in number of votes?"

"Oh, that's easy." Gunther replied, "_Romeo and Juliet_, by far."

"Oh yeah," Eld added, "big time lead. I think second and third place are…" Eld scratched the back of his neck as he plunged deep into thought.

"Last I remember," Gunther stated, "it was looking like _Snow White _and…I think, _Carmen_, wasn't it?"

"Yep, that's what I remember." Mike added.

"_Carmen_?" Eren inquired.

"Yeah," Mike replied, "you've never heard of it?"

Eren scratched the back of his neck and responded, "No, actually, sorry."

The group chuckled at their friend's ignorance, and Gunther replied, "It's fine. We can give you the basic concept if you want."

Eren perked up as he replied, "Really?"

"Definitely!" Eld stated, "Basically, it's set in old time Spain, about 1820 or so."

"And it's about this guy," Mike continued, "Don José, who falls madly in love with this girl, Carmen."

"Carmen reciprocates the feeling," Eld said, "and José subsequently abandons his military career, and his childhood sweetheart, to be with Carmen forever."

"And, that's it?" Eren inquired, "Seems like your average play from that era."

"Oh, that's far from it." Gunther replied, "When José comes back, he finds that he's lost Carmen to a glamorous, rouge toreador, named Escamillo."

"José and Escamillo engage in a duel," Mike added, "and it turns out close."

"But," Gunther added, "in the end, when José goes to deal the finishing blow on Escamillo…"

"He kills Carmen in his rage," Eld stated, "leaving José emptier than ever before." Eld sat up from his leaning position, and continued, "It was the first of its kind, and it was also originally an opera."

"Opera?!" Eren recoiled in fear at that word.

The seniors chuckled as Eld reassured, "Calm down, we won't be doing any of that. Have you ever heard Levi sing?"

"He sounds like a tone-deaf warbler." Mike laughed out.

"Being strangled." Gunther added, "You forgot the 'being strangled' part."

Eren couldn't help but laugh vigorously and heartily at the comments of the seniors, and the group talked for a few more minutes before Eld looked at his phone and stated, "Hey, we should probably get going, our food's going to get cold."

"Aww…" Mike moaned, "fine…"

The group of seniors got up, gave their 'goodbye's to Eren, and then left him alone again.

Eren kicked back, and said to himself, "I wonder who's next…" as he chuckled and sat back. He pulled out his phone again, opened up his Alien Blue Reddit app, then proceeded to browse through his various subreddits before he heard a knock at the van's doors. He stowed his phone and called, "Come in~!"

The door swung open, and on the other side was a blushing Sasha. Eren obtained a similar blush as Sasha said, "Um, hi."

As Sasha crawled in the van, Eren chuckled and said, "We have _got _to stop meeting like this."

"Like what?" Sasha inquired as she cocked her head.

"Well, you know." Eren explained as he leaned back, "After I've gotten the shit beaten out of me and am recuperating."

Sasha blushed even deeper as she replied, "Y-yeah. I agree…"

"I mean, granted we meet at Drama Club, but that doesn't really seem like enough, y'know?" Eren continued.

Sasha squealed out of excitement to herself and replied, "Oh, yeah, I know…"

"I don't know, I guess I was kind of hoping that I would get to know you better tonight." Eren stated as he stared up at the ceiling of the van, "I mean, you always seem to be acting weird around me, so I guess I kind of just wanted to figure out why." Eren grunted as he touched one of the wounds on his face that still hadn't fully healed, "But I guess certain other people had opinions against that."

Sasha mired at Eren's personality, and stated, "It's fine, I got to ride here with you, and I got to sit near you, so I'm content." Sasha smiled at the end of her sentence, and then felt Eren's hands on her shoulders.

"But I'm not." Eren stated. Sasha's body temperature skyrocketed, as she felt the heat of the blush that was most likely coating her entire body engulf her. "I really want to get to know you, alright? I want to get to know everyone here better, and why not start with a beautiful girl like yourself?"

Sasha was about to faint upon the word 'beautiful', and replied, "Uh…um…I…" she cursed herself for being unable to communicate her feelings, or, at this point, being unable to form an intelligible sentence.

Eren cocked his head and stated, "Sasha, are you okay? You look like you're about to faint."

Sasha managed to stammer out, "I-I'm fine. R-really."

Eren smiled as he gave Sasha a hug that did cause her heart to stop out of pure excitement for a moment, and then laid back against the van again. Sasha then inquired, "S-so, what did the seniors come and see you for?"

"Well, they've just been taking turns coming to check up on me." Eren replied, "I really appreciate that. It's good to have friends like that. Oh, and they told me about the plays we'll be doing soon."

"Oh, really?" Sasha inquired, "But wait, don't we have to count the ballots after this?"

"Well the seniors told me that it's a pretty clear cut case of what plays are going to be performed." Eren responded. "It looks like it's going to be _Romeo and Juliet, Snow White, _and _Carmen_."

"Wow," Sasha mired, "all of them are romances."

"Yeah," Eren replied, "but only one of them has a happy ending."

Sasha gave Eren a look of curiosity, and inquired, "What do you mean? And what is _Carmen _anyways? I've never heard of it…"

"Yeah, neither had I!" Eren stated as he rose up from his position, "And then they told me. Basically it's a romantic tragedy, like _Romeo and Juliet_, but a little different. But, hey, it sounds cool, so I think I'll enjoy it." Eren chuckled as he stated, "Hey, maybe I'll get to be Romeo and you'll get to be Juliet." Eren haughtily laughed once he finished his sentence.

Sasha stiffened up, and let that full-body blush engulf her yet again as she stammered, "Y-yeah, th-that would be funny…" Sasha said 'funny', but in her mind she said, _'amazing'_.

"Ah, well." Eren sighed, "I wouldn't make a good Romeo, not by far."

Sasha leaned in towards Eren and inquired, "Why?"

"Well, I guess I lack that charisma that people seek in Romeo." Eren replied as he gazed off into space, "I don't think I could pull in people in the same way that people like Levi can."

"What makes him so special?" Sasha replied.

"Well, I don't know." Eren responded, "I guess, like I said, it's his charisma. The way he can so easily command a crowd. Erwin has that same air about him, and I just don't think that I could pull that off."

"That's not true!" Sasha exclaimed, "What about today in Drama Club?! You called everyone out and brought them all back in! I don't think I know anyone else who could pull something like that. And I know I definitely couldn't."

Eren chuckled and replied, "That was just me being reckless. I have a bad tendency to do stuff like that. I need to work on it-"

"**No**." Sasha interrupted, peaking Eren's interest, "Don't change. I like y-…" Sasha trailed off.

Eren cocked his head at an able and inquired, "You like what now?"

Sasha froze like a deer in front of headlights and said, "I-I-I was just saying I like things just the way they are! I-Including you!"

Eren blushed a little bit, and replied, "O-oh, thanks! And I like you just the way you are, too!"

The pair awkwardly smiled, then talked a few minutes more about various things, such as music tastes, personal favorites, and other things to that accord. After awhile, Sasha checked her phone and exclaimed, "Oh, um, I'm gonna go back inside. I'm gonna miss dessert!"

Eren laughed at Sasha's remark and responded, "That's fine, go ahead. Have fun!"

Sasha gave Eren a hug goodbye, and contemplated giving him a kiss on the cheek, but given the condition of his wounds, she feared it would sting more that it would produce euphoric feelings. So, she left it at a hug, and then went back inside. Eren again pulled out his phone, and this time opened up his Pictures app. Ignoring the other images he had stored there, he instantly pulled up the picture Erwin sent him. He once again laughed at the sight of everyone enjoying, and then took a minute to gaze at the food. Before everyone were sumptuous delicacies. Fried chicken for some, cherry pie, salads, french fries, and more, all of it caused Eren's mouth to water a little, and he had to wipe it away from the corner of his lip before it dripped onto his blanket. After miring at some of the other things in his Pictures, such as old vacation photos from a month or two back when Mikasa, his parents, and him all went to the Grand Canyon, and some of the photos he had of Jean from his basketball matches that he had captioned 'Horse Face scores!' or 'Horse Face wins it!', he heard yet another knock on the van door. He stowed his phone and called, out "Enter!"

The door swung open, and on the other side stood a cocky Jean and Marco. Marco stated, "My, my, feeling formal, are we?"

Eren simultaneously rolled his eyes chuckled at Marco's remark, and stated, "Only as formal as I know how to be." He looked over to Jean and inquired, "What say you, Jean?"

Jean scoffed and replied, "Who's got the horse face now, Yeager?"

"C'mon, Jean." Eren replied, "I only call you that over Snapchat, and you know it."

"But it doesn't make it any less funny in real life." Marco added as he stifled a giggle.

"So," Eren began as the duo climbed in the van, "did you come to keep me company, too?"

"Well, we had nothing really to do while we waited for dessert," Marco replied, "so we figured, why not?"

"And, I guess I have some concern for your well-being…" Jean stated as he allowed a small smile to cross his face before leaning back up against the van.

"Oh, don't play around Jean." Marco stated as he gave Jean a thud on the head, "You were screaming just as much as anyone else when Reiner was beating the shit out of Eren."

Jean stiffened up as he retorted, "Don't act so innocent, Marco. If I recall, you had the highest pitched of all the screams there."

Eren laughed as a heated debate ensued between his two friends, and he then joined then debate when Jean brought up how Eren's hair would look better if it was styled entirely spiked up. Marco teased the two when he pulled a bottle of hair gel out of his coat, to which Eren inquired,

"Why do you have that?"

"Well," Marco began, "don't you guys always carry around a bottle of hair gel?"

"No." Eren and Jean said in unison, "That's just weird."

"And what's the point, with your hair anyways?" Jean inquired.

"Yeah, your hairstyle doesn't even require gel." Eren added.

"Yes it does." Marco replied, "My hair naturally wants to stand up on end, so I often have to use gel to hold it down."

Eren and Jean's mouths dropped to the floor, and Eren responded, "You can't be serious."

"I most absolutely am." Marco replied. He then reached in his pocket and pulled out his phone. "Give me a second here." He then unlocked his phone, opened his Pictures app, and displayed a photo of Marco in his bathroom with his hair sticking up left, right, and every which direction, causing Eren to stifle a fit of laughter, and Jean to actually release one. Marco's expression darkened as the duo now knew his dirty little secret. After discussing various hairstyles, and Jean and Eren forcing Marco to send them that picture, Marco beckoned for Jean to follow him back into the restaurant. Partially to escape his shame, and partially because dessert wasn't too far off from arriving.

As soon as they were gone, Eren pulled out his phone once again, and began to contemplate that he was maybe spending too much of his free time on his phone, but thought that when he was abandoned and in pain in the back of a van, there were only two things he could do, and since there were no tissues convenient, browsing the Internet with his phone seemed the only sensible thing to do. He spent a few more minutes on Reddit, and then thought about Marco's picture again. He immediately pulled it up, and then pulled up the widget that allowed him to share pictures instantly anywhere. He quickly selected 'iMessage' and put in Mikasa and Armin's numbers. He almost pressed the send button when he thought to himself, _'Wait a minute,' _he cast a glance out of the window at the restaurant and thought, _'they're probably all eating dessert right now, I can't bother them like that, can I?' _Not wanting to take the risk that Armin and Mikasa didn't have their phones on 'vibrate' or 'silent', he saved the message as a draft and decided that he would send it later. However, almost immediately after he saved that message and stowed his phone, he felt it vibrate and saw a notification for a message. He unlocked his phone, and saw it was a picture message from Hange. He opened it, and saw that enclosed was a selfie of Hange and Levi. She was near to the camera, and in the background, Eren could see Levi tugging at his cravat, while simultaneously frowning as always, and clinching his other free hand into an unmistakable fist. He quickly worried about Hange's well-being, but figured that she would get a kick out of being punched, so decided to restrain himself, just this once.

After roughly 20 more minutes, and a decent nap, Eren heard footsteps and clammer outside of the van doors. He rose up from his slumber and saw the crew attempting to sneak into the van. When they saw the jig was up, they just climbed into the van in their normal fashion, and Levi called from up in the driver's compartment, "You guys do a _really _shitty job of sneaking…"

"Oh, relax!" Hange called back, "He's awake!"

"Yeah, _now_." Levi retorted as he revved the car to life.

The ride back to the school was relatively uneventful, and filled with the normal light conversation and pleasant company. When the group finally got back to the school, Eren volunteered to take the rest of the group's position.

"WHAT?!" The sophomores collectively exclaimed. Even the seniors, who were leaning up against the van (except for Levi who was still sitting in the driver's seat with the window rolled down), gave Eren surprised expressions.

"You heard me;" Eren replied, "I'll take you guys' place so that you don't have to stay any later than you have to. Doing this, I'll not only repay my part of the dinner, but everyone else's!"

"Hey, Yeager!" Ymir called out from the group. She was holding hands with Historia as she added, "In case you don't remember, the only thing you had for dinner was a nice helping of that blondie's boot!"

Historia gave Ymir a tap on the back as she said, "_Ymir_!" in a sharp tone.

Ymir shrugged as she replied, "What? Just reminding him."

"Eren," Jean added, "you'll also remember that you were the one that advocated so proudly our working off our meal."

"Yes, Eren." Marco stated, "What became of that?"

Eren turned to Jean and Marco as he responded, "You guys have been through a lot tonight. All of you." He then gave the general group his attention, "You had to suffer a life and death situation, and you all look like you've been through Hell, so just let me bear all the weight, just this once."

"Hey, if I don't have to work, I'm fine with it!" Connie called out as he broke away from the group and began to walk away from the school.

"Eren, are you sure about this?" Armin inquired.

Eren gave Armin a smile as he replied, "Definitely. You guys need the rest to be prepared for tomorrow!"

"Mom and Dad are gonna have something to say about this…" Mikasa warned Eren.

Eren pulled out his phone and shook it in his hand saying, "I already texted Mom. She said she understands the circumstances, and is fine with it."

Mikasa shook as her argument was shot down.

Eren stowed his phone in his pocket and said, "Listen, you won't owe them anything, I'm taking care of all of it. So go home, get some sleep, and get ready to do some acting tomorrow, ok?!"

The sophomores contemplated it for a minute, then gave a collective gaggle of 'thank you's and 'goodbye's, then left on their separate ways. The only one who didn't leave was Sasha. She was still staring down at the ground, hands holding one another behind her back, and shifting back and forth.

Eren began to walk towards Sasha and inquired, "Sasha, what's wrong?"

As soon as Eren was within reasonable distance of her, Sasha leapt towards him, embracing him tightly and whispering in his ear, "Thanks, Eren. For everything." She then gave him a kiss on his cheek, smiled, and ran off towards her bus stop.

Eren caressed the cheek Sasha had just kissed, and Hange let out a loud, "Aww!"

Eren immediately tensed up and blushed a deep crimson red as he replied, "Wh-what are you 'aww'-ing at?"

"You know exactly what!" Eld called with a hearty laugh as he began to walk towards Eren. "So," he said, as he threw his arm around Eren, "Eren _does_ have a girlfriend!"

"I'll be honest, Eld," Gunther said as he too walked over and threw his arm around Eren, "I didn't know if he had it in him!"

"Who're you kidding, with these looks," Mike added as he walked over to Eren, threw his arms around Eld and Gunther, and then inhaled deeply, "and that heavenly scent, what girl could resist him?!"

The seniors all laughed as Eren frantically stammered out, "L-look, she's not my girlfriend, okay?!"

"Ah, but she _did_ give you a kiss!" Eld stated as he used his free hand to point at Eren's cheek.

"Indicative," Gunther concurred, "highly indicative if you ask me!"

As Eren spiraled downward into a tizzy, even Hange, Petra, and Erwin, who were still back at the van, began cracking up at the guys' antics. But then, a sharp door slam could be heard, and when everyone looked to the source, there stood Levi. His hands were at his side, and clenched into fists, and everyone noticed that the glass on the driver's side window was cracked slightly.

"Come on." Levi said as he lifted his head up, and the grim expression that tainted his face showed. He furiously stepped forward, his dress shoes clacking on the concrete with each step, and the senior guys backed off Eren. Eren was relieved, but only for a moment, as he saw Levi's path conflicted directly with Eren's current position. He went to get out of the way, but instead of being plowed over, he felt Levi's hand clasp his, and pull him onward towards the school. Levi stopped for a moment, and turned back and gave a deadly glare to the rest of the seniors, and called, "Well, what are you waiting for?! We have a lot of ballots to count, let's go!" He then barged through the school doors, leaving the rest of the seniors to catch up. Most of them rushed to catch up, except for Hange, who called to Erwin,

"Oi, wait up a minute."

Erwin turned back and inquired, "What is it?"

"What's up with Levi?" Hange inquired, "You've known him longer than anyone, so you can read him better than anyone else. It only makes sense that you would know what's wrong with him."

Erwin chuckled at Hange's inquiry, and gazed up at the sky. The stars shone brilliantly, that is, when they peeked out from the snow clouds. A light dusting of snow began to fall, and Erwin could feel small individual chills of snowflakes on his face. "It's a bizarre mix of emotions he's feeling right now, if I had to take a guess."

"It's not one thing alone?" Hange responded, as she stopped leaning on the van and stood up straight.

"No," Erwin replied, "It's a bizarre mixture of many things, but one emotion is motivating him now, above all."

"And what would that be?" Hange inquired.

Erwin stopped staring up at the sky, and locked eyes with Hange as he uttered,

"Jealousy."

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

_A/N: Well security isn't finding Jean anywhere, so I guess I'm left to do the outro by myself…again. Anyways, thanks for reading and my apologies for the shorter than usual chapter, but I had to rush this one a little bit to meet my deadline, plus I had a few things going on in school that prevented me from getting my full effort in this week, so, again, apologies for all that. _

_But yes, it appears as though Eren's making a full recovery! And that the Drama Club has some interesting happenings bound for it in the extremely near future! Next week, we get to see the final confirmed plays (as if you don't already know…), and who the actors and actresses will be! Also, I know it's late, but Happy Valentine's Day nonetheless, and thanks for sticking around for more of this fiction! If you enjoy it, please rate and review it, and why not favorite it? Also, follow it to keep up to date on any changes!_

_But yeah, that's all, and I'll see you guys next week!_


	5. All in Due Time

_A/N: _"Whoa, what's going on here?"

_Ah, Eren, I finally get to have a word with you! Please, sit down!_

"Where? There's only the one office chair, and you're using it."

_Oh, um, just, pull up a seat on my bed or something like that, I don't know._

"Oh, ok. So, what am I doing here?"

_Ah, yes. This is the notorious 'A/N'! I've been doing it on my own for the past few weeks, so I'm glad I finally got someone who's not completely fucking nuts in here…_

"So, what exactly do I do while I'm here?"

_Oh, it's simple. You just have to help me introduce the chapter and stuff that's going to happen in it. Easy peezy, no?_

"I guess…so what's gonna happen this week?"

_I'm glad you asked! I've got a lot happening in this one; first, we get to overhear what happens while you guys count the ballots and determine the final plays!_

"As if everyone didn't already know what they were going to be…"

_Also, we get more Drama Club…well…drama, as roles are selected,_

"I hope I at least get a part!"

_and more romance on this week's installment of '__**High School Daze**__'!_

"Wait, did you just say romance?"

_I did indeed!_

"Ha ha, but, I don't have anything romantic going on with me…"

_Hey, you can't lie to me, I know what happened with you and Sasha! Hey, are you alright? You're turning awfully red…_

"I-It's fine! I have to go! See ya!"

_Oi, wait a minute, Eren! *sigh* As impudent as he is impatient…well, whatever, you guys got the general gist of things, no? I need to go round up someone for the ending A/N, I'll see you there!_

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

The seniors and Eren sat in the middle of the Drama Club meeting room. They sifted through ballot after ballot, and had several piles set up for each individual play. Each person was on their own play; Eren had _Sleeping Beauty_, Levi had _Carmen_, Hange had _Romeo and Juliet_, Eld had _Hamlet_, Gunther had _Beauty and the Beast_, Oluo had _Tarzan_, Petra had _Snow White_, Mike had _The Tempest_, and Erwin had _Odyssey_. As they sorted through the large pile of votes in front of them, they would find ballots with each person's respective play on it, and give it to them. Halfway through, Eld got a little mischievous, and started to ball his ballots up into paper balls, and throw them at whoever's they were. After one beaned Gunther in the side of the head, he exclaimed,

"Can you just focus!?"

"Whoa, whoa, snappy, snappy, are we?" Eld inquired as he chuckled at Gunther's one-track mind and sifted through the ballot pile even more.

"Can you blame him?" Oluo inquired as he passed a ballot to Eren, "We all want to get this over with, go home, and get some sleep."

"How many more ballots do you think there are?" Hange moaned as she tossed a ballot into her pile.

"Gauging from the size," Erwin said as he took a step back to examine the pile, "I'd say, a few dozen or more."

"How many people joined this damn club…" Levi muttered to himself as he neatly folded a ballot and placed it in his pile.

"A surprising amount," Eren replied, "I didn't expect it myself when I first came in."

"Shocker…" Levi replied as he handed a ballot to Eren.

"Look, it can't be that bad." Mike stated in an attempt to lift people's spirits.

"Easy for you to say," Oluo retorted, "everyone who's anyone knows _Tarzan_, but who the hell's ever heard of _The Tempest_? You've got it _too _easy."

Mike chuckled at Oluo's smart remark and replied, "Well if you're going to be mad at anyone, be mad at the students for being 'uncultured swine' as you so called them during dinner…"

Oluo stiffened up, and hung his head low as he continued to sift through the ballot pile.

"Damn," Eren remarked as he turned to Mike, "you're good at that!"

Mike laughed as Oluo muttered out a meek "Shut up!", and only hung his head lower.

"One thing about Mike," Eld stated as he turned to Eren, "he's a real miser, and always has a way out of anything and everything."

"I wish that he could find a way to get us out of this work…" Gunther muttered to himself.

"I heard that." Erwin said with a sly grin as he handed a ballot to Levi.

"Good, I meant it that way." Gunther replied as he handed a ballot to Hange.

"Now, now, children," Hange began as she waved her hands in a calming motion, "let's not distract from the task at hand, alright! We all want this to be over with as much as the next guy, so let's just get it over with."

Levi raised his head at Hange's comment, but also at something else, "Oi, Petra," he called as Petra stiffened up and blushed a little bit, then turned to Levi and uttered a feeble,

"Y-yes, Levi?"

"Is something the matter?" Levi inquired as he folded another ballot, "You seem a bit…" he lined the crease of the fold with his two fingers as he said, "preoccupied."

Once again, Levi's master skills of intuition were correct. At the moment, Petra was _extremely_ preoccupied. She was racking her brain over her feelings for Levi, and how she would tell him, and whether he would like her back, and an infinite other amount of possibilities that were making her job near impossible. After their close encounter in the van, she was sure of how she felt, but was still unsure of how Levi felt. He was so difficult to read, it was bizarre how Eren managed to do it so well in all the talks she had seen them have. She deeply envied Eren, but at the same time, cared for him a lot. She knew that Levi had a special place for Eren, whether he showed it or not, that much she knew, and figured that she might as well protect him as well as she could. She gazed upon Eren, as he laughed haughtily at the conversation he was having with some of the other seniors, then realized she was perhaps gazing a little bit too much when Hange snapped her fingers next to her and called,

"Hey, Earth to Petra, Levi was asking a question to you!"

Petra shook herself back to reality, then turned to Levi with a meek grin, who simply responded with his natural frown and stated, "You _are _preoccupied, but with what, I wonder?"

Petra's mind began racing at a million miles an hour again, and she replied, "I-I-I'm just worried a-about you…" she trailed off at the end, and allowed her blush to engulf her entirely.

"Ooh, I've never seen that hue before…" Hange stated as she leaned in to examine Petra's face, much to Petra's further embarrassment.

Levi scoffed as he replied, "Why be worried about me?" and resumed his ballot counting.

"W-well," Petra stuttered as she clumsily took a ballot from Hange, "you got grabbed and tossed around by that thug, didn't you?"

Levi turned his full body towards Petra and stated, "That miserable excuse for a human being? He was nothing. You're worrying about the wrong person…" he turned his attention to Eren and continued, "I'm not the one who threw up his dinner before he even had it…"

Eren heard Levi's words, even from within his conversation with Mike, Eld, and Gunther, and froze right in mid-sentence. He slowly turned over to Levi and replied, "W-well, I said, I was sorry, didn't I?"

"What is it with everyone and stuttering lately?" Levi muttered to himself as he reluctantly handed a ballot to Hange, "It's weird…"

Mike laughed as he stated, "Don't act like you're _entirely_ innocent, Levi, you've been in this situation before, no?"

Levi's expression darkened as he turned his icy glare to Mike, putting him into momentary submission. After that, he turned to Eren and inquired, "What do they want with you, anyways?"

Eren felt a chill run down his spine and replied, "Didn't I explain it to you before?"

"As I recall, no." Erwin interjected, "I'm actually quite curious myself." He gestured to the rest of the seniors and continued, "In fact, I think the vast majority of us are curious. If we're going to be saving your skin from those guys, we might as well know what they're after in the first place."

"Yes, why would they go such lengths as they did?" Eld further inquired as he leaned into Eren, causing him to tense up even further.

Eren sighed as he relaxed and explained the whole situation to the seniors. He explained about the whole Biology deal, and how he had allowed Bertolt and Reiner to cheat off of him and that they would've hurt him (or worse) otherwise, and basically everything he could, even about the situation from the day when he first met Levi.

As Eren was mid sentence, something occurred to him, and he turned to Levi and stated, "Come to think of it…Levi,"

"Hm?" Levi responded as he folded one of the few remaining ballots.

"that day, when we first met," Eren continued, "how did you know I was where I was?" Levi stopped mid fold and completely froze as Eren went on and said, "How did you even know that I would be at that exact location?"

Mike smiled as he added, "It makes even less sense when you realize that Levi's final class was in the total opposite building from where he entered."

Eren turned his head to Mike and exclaimed, "What?!"

Mike nodded as he replied, "Levi's final class is Physics, and that's in the Eastern Wing. But, as I heard it from several people I interviewed about the incident, Levi entered from the Southern Wing, then took you to the Northern Wing to get you medical attention."

Eren mulled that over for a minute, and then realized that it was in fact true. He then shot a look at Levi, who was still in that mid-crease frozen pose, and stammered out, "L-L-Levi?…"

Levi was unresponsive for a minute, and the whole room was so silent, you could hear a pin drop. Then, Levi straightened back out, sat up as tall as he could (which would put him at just below shoulder height on Erwin sitting down), and replied, "I had some…business that day that demanded my attention in that wing." Eren and the rest of the seniors could feel the erraticism in Levi's voice, and could swear that they saw a hint of a blush developing on Levi's face, but dismissed these notions as it all sounded too ludicrous, as Levi continued, "When I was walking along one of the hallways on the second floor, I saw you down there in the courtyard, and you seemed like you were in trouble. I figured it to be a random act of kindness, nothing more, nothing less. But, here we are; whoopdie-fucking-doo…"

The group laughed at Levi's vulgar and pissy attitude about the whole situation, except for Erwin, who merely smiled at his friend, and gave him a look that somehow said that he knew that there was more there, but hid it as best as he could.

Erwin merely chuckled at Levi's story, and stated, "I can vouch for him on that one."

Eren cocked his head and inquired, "You knew he was there?"

Erwin nodded as he replied, "I'm in the same Physics class as Levi here, and I remember Mr. Klein telling him to go pick up some papers that came in for him in the main office. Which, if you will all recall correctly, is in the Southern Wing."

Levi cast a glance at Erwin, then nodded as he concurred, "I told you all so…"

The group chuckled at Levi's natural curmudgeonry, and Eren said, "Sorry for going all crazy there, Levi. I thought you were stalking me or something."

Eld chuckled as he chimed in, "What bad shoujo manga have you been reading, man?"

Eren giggled, and Gunther thumped Eld on the back of the head and stated, "Get back to work, man. Next time I tug that ponytail off your scalp."

"You know he will." Mike reassured as he got down to the level of Gunther and Eld.

Eld's expression turned to one of horror as he tenuously grasped his ponytail and watched every move Gunther made for the rest of the time that they were there. After ten or so more minutes of counting ballots, the final top three were announced by Erwin.

"Alright, listen up people," Erwin said as he and Levi rose up while the other seniors and Eren sat at attention, "the final results are: in third place, at a surprising upset to _Sleeping Beauty_, _Snow White_!"

"What?!" Eld exclaimed as he shot up, "That's crazy! I thought for sure Beauty had it in the bag…"

"Well, you thought wrong." Levi flatly stated, his arms crossed.

Eld sheepishly sat down as Erwin cleared his throat and continued, "Right, well…next up in second place is the saucy Spanish drama itself, _Carmen_!"

A round of applause erupted over the crowed as Eld leaned in between Eren and Petra and whispered, "I told you, didn't I?"

The trio softly giggled before Gunther grasped Eld's ponytail tightly and whispered, "_Po-ny-__**tail**_." putting brute emphasis on each syllable.

Eld wanted to keep his scalp intact, so he bowed out of the trio and sat back down next to Gunther, who still dangled his hand dangerously near Eld's head.

"And finally," Erwin announced as he flashed a small smile, and stated, "the clear cut victor out of the group, which will be performed in two weeks from this date, is _Romeo and Juliet_!"

A roar of applause again erupted over the small group and Hange even whistled in vast approval as she exclaimed, "WHOO-HOO! I knew that one would win! I just knew it! Now's my chance to play a gorgeous Juliet!"

"You would be better suited to play Romeo's horse…" Levi stated as he walked towards the group and assumed a position over Eren and Petra.

"Nah," Eren replied, "I think Jean would be better suited for that role, what with that gaunt face of his!" Eren let out a laugh, and the rest of the seniors joined in, save for Levi, who simply gazed onward at Eren with an interesting expression. One that could best be described as, 'longing'.

"Now," Erwin said in a commanding tone, drawing the attention of the room, "I will announce these decisions to the Drama Club tomorrow and auditions will take place that very same day. We will decide the critical roles that day, and then minor parts will be assigned as Levi and I see fit." Erwin turned to Eren and smiled as he noticed how deep in thought Eren was. "Thinking of going for the role of Romeo, Eren?"

Eren shook himself out of his thought train, and replied, "O-oh! Uh…I mean…"

"That's a 'yes'!" Gunther stated as he slung his arm around Eren and flashed a broad smile.

"So you think you could pull it off, eh?" Erwin inquired as he strutted over to Eren.

"W-well…" Eren trailed off before continuing, "I guess…."

"There is no 'I guess', in acting, Eren." Levi stated as he got down to Eren's level and placed his head on his shoulder and continued, "You must be confident, sure of yourself, and above all, charismatic. You must be able to…" Levi made a swift motion, and slid his hands underneath Eren's arms, lifted him up, then spun him around tango-style, and caught him in a dance-style drop while one of Eren's legs was in the air, and one on the ground. Levi held Eren up with only his left arm, and his right arm was straight back, and was now holding a rose that Levi seemed to have pulled out of nowhere. Levi slid the rose across his face, then placed in Eren's mouth, and continued, "sweep people off their feet."

Eren held his position, awestruck at Levi's spontaneous action, was hopeless to do anything but simply gaze into Levi's mesmerizing stare. His icy eyes were lit with a passion like no one had ever seen before, and Eren could feel it as well. As he held onto the rose with only the skin of his teeth, he thought he could smell something. Something…amazing. And then it hit him. _'Cologne…' _Eren thought to himself as he took a second to scope out Levi, _'yep, that's definitely it. So he wears cologne, eh? And fancy stuff from the smell of it. It smells divine…'_

"Oi, Eren," Mike called nervously from the group, "are you alright?"

Eren snapped back to his sense, and would've fallen flat on the floor had it not been for Levi's lightning quick reflexes and the fact that Eren was wearing a hoodie. As Levi suspended Eren from the ground by only his hood, Eren replied, "Y-yeah, I'm good." Levi let go, and Eren stumbled back to his feet. Dusting himself off, he continued, "And Levi has a point; if I'm going to go for that role, I need to be everything he said I need to be. I have some work to do in the next few hours…" He pulled his phone out of his pocket, and checked the time. _'Only 10:30? I can afford to be here a little longer before Mom __**really **__gets pissed…' _Eren thought to himself as he stowed his phone in the same motion. He turned to Levi who was miring at the rose that was previously in Eren's mouth. "Levi," Eren called, eliciting a small grunt and a casual look from Levi (as if anyone expected any more), "could you, maybe, teach me?"

"In the short time we have left?" Levi remarked, "You got kicked harder than I thought…"

Levi further fiddled with the rose as Eren pleaded, "C'mon, _please_?" down on bended knee.

Levi took notice of Eren's position, and remarked, "What are you doing? Proposing?" with a somewhat amused expression tainting his face.

Eren scrambled to his feet as the seniors laughed raucously. "N-no, I-I-" Eren began to stammer, but was interrupted by a single finger on his lips. Levi's.

"Less talk. More acting." Levi stated as he lifted his finger from Eren's lips and extended his hand towards Erwin.

Erwin nodded and went over to a table near the stage. He came back with a thick script that read _Romeo and Juliet_ SCRIPT, on the front, and handed it to Levi. Levi graciously accepted and then extended his hand to Petra, who froze at the sight of it.

Petra raised her hand, and pointed a quivering finger at herself as she stammered out, "M-m-me? You want me?"

"You're an experienced actress," Levi replied, his face expressionless as always, "it stands to reason you'd be of use, no?"

Petra shakily nodded, and then grabbed hold of Levi's hand, relishing in its magnificent warmth and strength for every second that she was clasped onto it, and then followed as Levi motioned for the exit. "Where are we going?" inquired Petra.

"The room next door," Levi replied, "we're going to do a dry run through Romeo's parts before Eren actually tries some of the actual acting."

"Um, just out of curiosity," Eren said, "how long will this take?"

"Not more than an hour," Levi responded, "I'm just giving you the basics, from there, it's all up to you." He gestured towards the door and Eren and Petra stood at attention. Levi escorted them all out of the room, gave a nod to the rest of the seniors, and slammed the door shut.

Erwin chuckled as he went over to a window and wistfully gazed out of it as he said, "Ah, Levi…always one of two ways…never in between…"

"Hmm?" Eld inquired, cocking his head to the side.

Mike chuckled at Eld's curiosity, "You haven't picked up on it yet, Eld?"

"No…what is it?" Eld replied.

Mike smiled as he turned to Gunther and inquired, "What about you, Gunther?"

Gunther shook his head and replied, "Normally I would, but now, I'm clueless."

Mike nodded as he then looked over to Oluo and Hange and said, "Hange, I assume you've figured it out."

"Well, _naturally_!" Hange responded with her usual giddy tone, "Silly Mike!"

"And of course I do!" Oluo interjected as he gave his cravat a tug. Mike gave Oluo a piercing look, and Oluo could feel himself reevaluating everything that he had just said. "W-Well…maybe I don't…" Oluo sheepishly said as he hung his head low in shame.

"That's what I thought…" Mike stated as he stood up.

"Okay, Mike," Eld stated as he rose up as well, "Erwin and Hange too, what's going on here that we don't know about?"

"Answer, if you please." Gunther pleaded (in his own special way).

"All in due time, Eld," Mike replied as he strutted over to Erwin, "right Erwin?"

Erwin watched as the snow slowly blanketed the ground several floors below him. He looked up to the clouds as the gray clouds produced more and more of the fluffy, icy flakes, and seemed to be in deep, deep thought as he gazed onward. Erwin closed his eyes, lowered his head, and allowed a small smile to cross his face as he replied, "Indeed…all in due time…"

As the trio of Petra, Eren, and Levi walked down the hall to the rehearsal room, Petra noticed that Eren appeared deep in thought again. "Something bothering you, Eren?" Petra inquired as she leaned in close to Eren.

Eren sighed as he replied, "I guess I'm just worried about Mikasa." Eren thought he could see Levi tense up at the mention of Mikasa's name, but disregarded it and continued, "It's just, she's never really walked home alone before, save for the times before my family adopted her."

"Oh, you adopted Mikasa?" Petra said as she continued to listen intently to Eren.

"Yeah, some years back there was an…incident, and I ended up saving Mikasa's life." Eren responded, "Long story short, we adopted her when she was around eight or nine, and before that, she was really lonely. She didn't have much of a family, and well, I guess we started walking to school around that same time." Eren chuckled as he went on to say, "It's funny, she told me that she never had anyone walk with her to school ever before…"

Eren opened his mouth to speak further, but was interrupted by Levi violently throwing the door to the rehearsal room open. "C'mon…" Levi said, his tone dark and commanding, "we have a lot of material to cover."

Eren and Petra nervously nodded, as Eren cast a final glance out of one of the hallway windows and closed the rehearsal room doors behind him, the sound reverberating throughout the halls.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Mikasa strolled away from the school, and down her street. She watched as the snowflakes drifted gently down to Earth, and melted away on her black parka. She felt the cold wind nipping at her face, or, what little was exposed of it, as the majority of the lower of her face was covered by Eren's scarf. Mikasa nuzzled up even closer to that scarf, as she thought about Eren, and what he was up to at this very moment. She gazed onwards at the various houses that she passed as she thought, _'Well, whatever he's doing, I hope he's keeping as far away as he can from that Levi guy…' _Mikasa had never really gotten around to liking Levi, even thought he had saved Eren twice now, and gotten them all into the Drama Club. He just had that air about him that put off Mikasa. _'What does he want with Eren anyways? And how did he know that Eren was getting beaten up by Reiner and Bertolt that one day?…' _Mikasa halted her thought process and her body as she stopped at a stop sign, looked both ways, and was just crossing over to the other side of the street when she heard a voice call her name,

"MISAKA!"

She turned around to see Jean dashing through the snow (_sadly, without a one-horse open sleigh_), waving his mittened hand and calling Mikasa's name.

Mikasa was disappointed that her gentlemen caller wasn't Eren, and decided to deal with Jean the way she would anyone. _'But wait…' _Mikasa thought to herself, _'it is kinda lonely, walking home alone, and Jean does live nearby…' _Mikasa didn't have much time to mull it over, as Jean was fast on the approach. Her only saving grace was that Jean had slipped on some ice mid-run, and had to take a second to recuperate. _'Well…maybe it won't be so bad…'_

"Mikasa!" Jean exclaimed again as he was now within an adequate enough distance of her.

Mikasa waved back, nodded and said, "Jean…" as Jean stopped in front of her, panting furiously.

"So…" Jean said in-between pants, "Yeager's…not…here…eh?"

"No," Mikasa replied, "Eren's still with the seniors…"

"Jeez," Jean responded, having now regained his breath "what was he thinking?"

"Well," Mikasa said as she thought about Eren's decision, "he did say that he wanted us to get some rest…"

Jean sighed as he stated, "That's what I never got about him; he's impudent, and arrogant when he gets his mind set on something." Jean looked up to the sky and thought deeply about something or other, no one could really tell. After a few moments, he looked back at Mikasa and inquired with a chuckle, "Has he always been like that?"

Mikasa giggled a little bit herself, and responded, "Well, yeah…"

Jean laughed in response, and said, " I should've known…" in the back of his head, Jean thought, _'There's that girly giggle again!' _but quickly dismissed the thought when he saw Mikasa about to speak.

"Um, if I may ask," Mikasa began, capturing Jean's full attention, "what brought you to join the Drama Club?"

Mikasa thought she saw Jean stiffen up, and blush a little bit as he replied, "Uh…w-well…" Jean scratched the back of his head and continued, "I guess…it just looked like something fun…" Jean hung his head low in embarrassment and pretended to be enticed by the cars that passed by every now and again.

Mikasa noted Jean's obscure behavior, and replied, "Oh…I see…"

"So…" Jean stated, breaking the silence that had come over the duo, "you're walking home alone?"

"Yeah," Mikasa somberly said, "and I should be going, bye."

Mikasa turned around and was almost out of Jean's reach when she felt a hand clasp onto one of the arms of her parka. "Hold on," Jean said, "i-it's not right for a woman to walk on her own, especially this late at night." Jean stiffened up as he added, "S-so, if you don't mind, I'd like to walk home with you."

Mikasa stood there, Jean still grasping onto her, and a strong winter gust had started blowing. Jean's exposed ash-gray hair rippled in the breeze, while Mikasa's chin-length locks were secure behind her sturdy parka hood.

After about twenty seconds, Mikasa replied, "Fine…" with what Jean thought was a small blush, but dismissed that notion due to its absolutely ludicrous nature.

Jean was completely taken aback by Mikasa's response, but mustered up enough willpower to stammer out a, "Uh-uh-um…alrighty then!"

_'Wow, Jean,'_ Jean thought to himself as he and Mikasa began their walk home together,

_'can you sound like any more of an idiot?' _

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

_A/N: Hey guys, I didn't bother tracking down Eren; after I chased him down three blocks, I figured I might as well take care of things on my own. And I think its necessary given the circumstances. I apologize for the lack of a chapter last week, I was sick, and I couldn't even walk around out of exhaustion, let alone write, so this story was on standby in my life until this week when I finally felt better, and got cracking at it again. I'm truly happy you all have stuck around and kept reading through all the nonsense that's been happening in my life. I really do appreciate you guys more than you could know. Apologies for the recent shortcomings in chapter length, but I've been on real crunch time to get these finished and published. With schoolwork piling up on me, that's becoming increasingly difficult, but I'll do it, no worries. The regular length to chapters will return at some point. Until then, I thank you for bearing with me. _

_So yeah, how did you like this week's chapter? With Eren taking acting lessons from Levi and Petra, and Jean's moment with Mikasa, things are going to quickly get interesting at the Drama Club! So what will happen? Only one way to find out. Check back next week for the latest chapter of '__**My Heart's Desire**__'! _

_Make sure to rate and review! Because I truly adore reading your reviews, and all of your criticism, positive or negative. You can also leave suggestions or anything in the reviews, and I'll make sure to read over them and maybe implement them into the story!_

_Until next week guys, see ya!_


	6. The Auditions (Part 1)

_A/N: Well since Sasha didn't want to answer her phone, it looks like I'm once again forced to do the A/N by myself…Ungrateful, all of them…_

_Maybe it's for the best that I do it on my own, since I have an apology to make for last week. I had to take that week off to finish up a certain other fiction that I was writing called '__**My Heart's Desire**__' (If you want to check it out, you can find it by going to my profile), and I couldn't multi-task as well as I thought I could. I ended up getting about halfway through a draft of a chapter for this fiction, and then scrapping it, writing the final chapter for Heart's Desire, and now I'm here. _

_Guys, I'm sorry I was unable to get a chapter out last week. I don't know how much it means (whether some of you noticed or not), but I really am sorry. And let me assure you that I now have myself centered, and will continue work on this fiction diligently, and in a timely manner. Thought I don't have a precise number of how many chapters are going to go into this, I'm beginning to get a rough idea. I still need to shape up the ending, but that's for another day, another time. _

_Alright, time to cut the woe-is-me bullshit and get on with the __**actual**__ A/N. _

_If you remember correctly, Eren and the seniors counted ballots to decide on the lineup of plays that were to be performed. Eren got ambitious and decided that he was going to out for the role of Romeo in 'Romeo and Juliet'. Upon this comment (and after some saucy tango dancing), Levi offered to have him and Petra give Eren acting lessons. Eren accepted, and the trio went off to another room to rehearse. _

_Meanwhile, Mikasa enjoyed a walk home with Jean._

_Now, the day of the auditions, many a heart will be broken at the hands of the stage. Let's see how that turns out shall we?_

_P.S. I made sure to pay Marco back for the lemonade. I've never seen a guy happier about getting two bucks…_

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Eren, Armin, and Mikasa walked diligently down the hallway to the Drama Club room. All of them, tingling with excitement and nervousness.

Armin gave a look to Mikasa, and noticed she was shaking. "Well this is a first." Armin noted.

Eren looked over to Armin and inquired, "What is?"

Armin pointed to Mikasa and said, "Mikasa's _actually_ nervous about something."

Mikasa shot Armin a deadly look, and Armin retracted his finger at lightning speed. Eren laughed at the whole ordeal and replied, "I'm surprised you haven't noticed before. She gets that way a lot."

Mikasa blushed deeply, and did her best to bury her face in her scarf. Armin cocked his head to the side, and said, "That's weird, I've never seen her like that before."

"Really?" A surprised Eren inquired as the trio neared the door to the Drama Club, already hearing the clamor of the rest of their club mates, "She gets like that all the time whenever I'm with her!"

Mikasa's face was entirely engulfed by here scarf, and her face was painted a similar hue of red. Armin watched on, his eyes gleaming with delight, and stated, "Hmm…interesting…"

Eren chuckled at his friend's sly attitude, and he threw his arm around Mikasa as he coyly said, "What's the matter? Got a little crush or something?"

It was taking all of Mikasa's mighty willpower to not liquify into a puddle, given the situation, but somehow she lasted through Eren's haughty laugh. She breathed a heavy sigh of relief when she felt Eren take his arm off of her.

When the trio was right outside of the Drama Club, they realized how bombastic these auditions were going to be. They already heard people rehearsing lengthy monologues and short snippets, all from various plays and skits, which made Eren remember that the official play list hadn't been announced yet. They swung the doors of the clubroom open, and saw people sitting all over the place. Some were in little groups, giving one another criticism, and some were solo, giving themselves criticism in their own creative ways.

And then there was their group. The trio eventually saw Marco, Jean, Connie, and Sasha all huddled up in one little circle-like shape. Marco noticed Eren and company and waved to them. Eren noticed, waved back, and began to walk over, dragging Armin and Mikasa along with him.

Marco tapped Jean on the shoulder, and gestured to show him that Eren, Mikasa, and Armin were drawing near. Jean nodded, and the two reached back, and grabbed three empty chairs behind them. They swung them around, and assimilated them into their bizarre geometrical creation. Eren and company collectively said, "Thank you"s and such while taking their seats. Eren was sat next to Marco, Mikasa was next to Jean, and Armin was next to Connie, who began poking fun at him about his bowl haircut.

"So," Eren said as he turned to Marco, "what did we miss?"

"Nothing much." Marco replied, "The seniors haven't given the announcement of the plays yet, so we're just all waiting."

"Good to know, good to know…" Eren said as he lowered his head in slight disappointment and worry.

"Hey, you were there last night, right?" Jean inquired of Eren, turning his eyes away from Mikasa in an attempt to hide the blush that painted his face.

Eren perked up as he remembered and replied, "Yeah, what of it?"

Jean flicked Eren's temple and said, "What I mean, bimbo, is that you already know the play lineup, so what are you worried about?"

"I'm not worried so much about the lineup," Eren began as he rubbed the spot where Jean flicked him, "as I am about the auditions…"

Sasha had been miring at Eren ever since had gotten here, but had been trying not to let it show. However, she couldn't resist this opportunity, and said, "Eren, don't worry! I'm sure you'll be perfect! You already a-" Sasha cut herself short mid-sentence when she noticed everyone in the group was staring at her. She withdrew a little bit, and kept quiet.

Eren smiled at Sasha's kind (yet bizarre) words, and flashed a smile at Sasha as he replied, "Thanks, Sasha…" thought he couldn't say that without blushing at the events of the prior night. He made sure his blush wasn't catching him any attention from the rest of the group, and then he remembered that they had all been gone when the kiss had gone down. He shook his head, and snapped back to reality. However, he realized that his actions weren't out of the prying eye of Armin Arlert. One thing that Eren had always loved/hated about Armin, was his tendency to notice every detail. It always slipped Eren up, or benefited him in one way or another, never in-between. But, Eren digressed, and simply enjoyed it for what it was.

The group talk about random nonsense for awhile, the restaurant was a subject of particular interest, but Eren always diverted the flow of the conversation to something else. Be it Jean's amazing performance at the basketball game, Mikasa's walk home yesterday (which elicited a blush from Mikasa and Jean), or Jean and Connie arguing about who-knows-what.

After awhile, Eren was in the middle of a sentence, when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Eren looked behind him, and saw Erwin, Levi, and Mike towering over him. He fell out of his seat, giving the group around him a good laugh, save for Levi, who just rolled his eyes. Eren rose to his feet, dusted his jeans off, and inquired, "E-Erwin? Levi? Mike?" as he looked at each one of them, respectively.

Levi rolled his eyes as he replied, "Was that because you're surprised to see us, or because you're more of an idiot than we think?"

Mikasa's expression darkened at Levi's normal vulgar way of speaking, while Eren just laughed it off and said, "I'm fine. And, the first one."

"Yeah, what brings you guys here?" Jean inquired.

"Uh, we kinda run the club, Horse Face." Levi retorted, eliciting the rest of the group to chuckle, except for Levi and Jean, who was now balling his hand into a fist. Marco noticed this and bumped his fist with his own, then gave Jean a calming smile. Jean smiled, then rolled his eyes as he pondered how Marco managed to keep up that whole 'kindness' thing.

"Uh, I think he was talking about why you three are here, at this group." Connie piped up.

"A spectacular inquiry if I've ever heard one," Erwin boomed over the small group, "young Springer."

"Um, thanks? I guess…" Connie replied as he backed up a little ways from Erwin.

"We came to retrieve a certain one among you." Mike said as he stepped up to the group from behind Erwin. "Specifically, Eren."

The group all donned expressions of half-surprise/half-horror. Eren's eyes widened more than all the rest, and he pointed at himself as he replied, "Me?"

"Eren, Petra and Levi inform me that you were spectacular at your rehearsal session last night." Erwin stated as he walked over to Eren and put his arm around him.

Eren looked up to Erwin, then over to Levi and inquired, "Levi, you really said that about me?"

Levi shrugged apathetically, and Eren took that as his way of saying 'Yes.'

"Oh, come on," Eren began as he chuckled nervously, "I can't be _that _good."

"Eren," Mike began as he walked up to Eren, "you know how seldom Levi compliments something. And Petra's a natural born actress; she sees and knows only the best. I have no doubt that her recommendation can't be far off."

"So, Eren," Erwin said, "you up for the role of Romeo in _Romeo and Juliet_?"

"WHAT?!" The group collectively exclaimed.

As the rest of the group continued their debacle, Sasha thought to herself with a deep blush painting her face, _'Eren's Romeo?! Maybe…NO NO NO…I'd never make it as his Juliet, would I?'_

"Hold the phone a minute," Jean exclaimed as he shot up out of his seat, "you're gonna give this scrawny punk the role of Romeo, while the rest of the guys here get shafted into more minor roles?!"

"Ah, that's where you're wrong, young Kirschtein!" Erwin replied.

"Huh?" a clueless Connie inquired.

"Perhaps you could elucidate?" Marco stated as he attempted to pull Jean back into his seat.

Erwin laughed a haughty laugh and then shot Levi a look and said, "Tell 'em, Levi!"

Levi, sighed and replied, "Jeez, what is this, a game show?" the group laughed and Levi sighed as he said, "We're a bit short on feminine members of this club, you see," Levi began as he simultaneously started to walk around the bizarre geometrical formation that the group was in, "so we have to revert to this play's Shakespearian roots."

Armin's facial expression darkened as he instantly realized the true horror of Levi's statement. "You don't mean…" Armin trailed off as he hung his head low.

"Oh, indeed he does!" Mike reassured with a devilish grin.

Everyone else in the group was shaking their heads in confusion, and Connie spoke up once again and exclaimed, "Just tell us what the hell is going on here, will ya?!"

Armin turned to Connie and explained, "Back in Shakespearian times…women's roles were…" Armin gulped as he continued, "traditionally played by men."

The group (save for the seniors) sat there with their jaws hanging open. Even Mikasa tensed up at the thought.

Eren managed to stammer out, "S-s-so what you're saying is…"

"Your Juliet may be a male." Levi flatly finished.

Eren looked blankly into space with a look of horror painting his face.

Mike noticed this, and patted him on the back as he said, "Look, don't worry about it." Eren looked at him out of shock. Mike smiled as he continued, "Look, you've got Petra, Sasha, Mikasa, and Hange as potentials for Juliet, right?"

"Um, what about Ymir and Historia?" Connie inquired.

"Uh, something tells me they won't be keen on taking up the role of Juliet…" Jean replied as he rubbed the back of his neck, "not unless Ymir gets to be Romeo and Historia gets to be Juliet, anyways…"

Erwin heartily laughed at Jean's statement, and then said to Eren, "The point is, you have four other beautiful candidates for Juliet. I don't think you have much to worry about."

"Plus," Mike added to boost Eren's already rising confidence, "you'll be on the committee who picks the actors."

"Really?!" Eren inquired, thoroughly surprised.

Levi sighed and replied, "Oluo's unfortunately out sick, and Eld decided to take a small care package from us to him, so it looks like we're forced to settle with you."

Eren smiled broadly and inquired, "Wait, so, how's it going to work?"

"Alright, listen up everybody!" Gunther boomed over the crowded room from the front.

As everyone focused their eyes on Gunther, Erwin softly said to Eren, "Listen up, and you'll see."

Eren nodded in acknowledgement and then turned his attention to Gunther.

"Alright," Gunther began, seeing he had everyone's undivided attention, "as you're all aware, we picked the play lineup last night. Said lineup consists of _Romeo and Juliet_, _Carmen_, and _Snow White_." Murmurs of worry, elation, and surprise erupted over the crowd. Gunther clapped his hands, drawing everyone's attention back to him, and continued, "Now, as you know, there's a rather large stage in the room next door. That is where auditions are going to be held. To shorten the amount of time put into these auditions, we will have four separate groups of students auditioning at once. Three groups of two, and myself on my own, will judge you as you are all called. We will be going in a random order from the list of your names that we have in that room. When Hange comes and calls your names, you report and read a minimum of one paragraph of dialogue from your character whom you are auditioning for. Once you are finished, you will be dismissed, and we will give you the name of another student to be brought to the audition room. We continue this cycle until everyone has had their audition, understand?"

A collective rumble of 'Yes's and 'Uh huh's came over the crowd. Gunther nodded, and then walked towards the exit of the room. He beckoned for the rest of the seniors and Eren to follow suit, which they did without hesitation. Eren waved goodbye to the group, and each gave their own gesture of farewell.

Armin waved with an confident smile, Jean snickered and casually wiped his eye with his middle finger, Marco gave a broad smile and a thumbs up, Connie pointed to Marco as if to say 'What he said!', and Mikasa and Sasha gazed onward at Eren with longing eyes.

As Eren went to return the gestures (he had a good one in mind for Jean), he felt Levi, who was casually keeping stride with Eren, grab the back of his head and turn it forward. Eren swallowed, but then smiled as he joined in on the seniors' conversation. As far as Eren could tell, it had something to do with the time that Hange cut the ropes on the sandbags and they fell on Levi's head. Levi's expression darkened and he retorted in his usual cold manner. Yet he added that special flair so that it was extra cold, for Hange's sake.

Levi also noticed Eren's troubled look, however, and stated, "If you keep looking gloomy, you'll piss off not only me, but the rest of the members of the club, you know."

Eren shook himself out of his thoughts, and then replied, "O-oh yeah, sorry about that."

"What's got you so wrapped up, anyways?" Levi inquired, taking a rarely seen genuine interest in Eren's well-being.

Eren wanted to inquire of Levi why he would pick him, of all people, as Romeo. And what was up with him lately; the friendlier-than-usual gestures were borderline something else that Eren couldn't quite place his finger on. And above all, he wanted to know what role Levi had in this play, other than judge. But, at the moment, he had to formulate some bullshit lie to tell Levi, and fast.

"Um," Eren began, "I was just…wondering what happened to Ymir and Historia." Eren let out a nervous chuckle, and shrugged as he gazed Levi right in those two unflappable, merciless, glistening emeralds that were called 'his eyes'.

Levi seemed suspicious of Eren's response, and in all honesty, was. But, he decided to brush it off as Eren being Eren, and huffed out, "Yeah…what did happen to the Titan and her Goddess…?"

"'Titan'"? Eren said as he reiterated that bizarre nickname Levi had given to Ymir.

"She's fucking colossal," Levi explained, "ergo, 'Titan'."

"Only when compared to you!" Hange prodded in her usual perky tone.

Eren nodded at Levi's vulgar explanation of Ymir's new (one-sided) nickname, and swallowed his fear as Erwin slid the doors to the audition room open.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

As Jean was in the middle of a heated debate with Armin about whether or not he would score more free throws if he tucked his elbow in more when he shot, the doors to the Drama Club were kicked open. The rest of the members were too busy rehearsing their lines to notice the couple that walked in. Ymir stood, leaned against the doorway with Historia leaning up against her chest. As Ymir looked down on her blonde goddess, she smiled and whispered to her,

"My my, Historia, I didn't know you were the type to get all touchy-feely in public."

Historia realized that her hands were directly beneath Ymir's breasts, and blushed as she withdrew them and just buried her face in Ymir's chest. She didn't know if that was any better than almost groping, but she figured it had to do for the situation.

As Ymir chuckled at Historia's antics, she grabbed her hand, and dragged her towards the group. Everyone collectively smiled upon the arrival of the happy couple, to which Ymir responded with a huff of indifference. However, when Historia was going to go grab a seat of her own, Ymir pulled her back, and made her sit on her lap. As Ymir nuzzled up to Historia, Historia stammered out,

"U-Uh, Y-Ymir?"

"Mm?" Ymir inquired in a muffled tone, as she currently had her faced buried in the blonde's luscious locks.

"A-Are you sure this is alright?" Historia inquired as she noticed Marco, Jean, and Armin giving them looks of amazement.

Ymir smiled to reassure Historia, and then her expression did a complete 180 as she intimidated the trio of guys into submission. Mikasa was completely indifferent to the guys' reactions, and was solely focused on the door, and when she would be called in.

"So," Ymir began as she laced her hands with Historia's and began playing around with them, "what's the latest news on planet: Drama Club?"

Marco snickered at Ymir's query, and replied, "Nothing big; the play lineup was announced."

"Oh, really?" Historia inquired, "What are they, huh?"

"_Romeo and Juliet_, _Carmen_, and _Snow White_." Armin dutifully responded, counting out a finger for each one as he said them.

"Yay!" Historia squealed, "All of the ones I voted for!" she looked up to Ymir and said, "What ones did you pick, Ymir?"

Ymir shrugged as she said, "I don't know a whole lot about this 'theater' thing, so I just copied off of your paper."

Armin nervously chuckled as he inquired, "Do you know _any _of the plays, I mentioned?"

"Uh…_Romeo and Juliet_, barely…and I know the basic premise of _Snow White_, I'll be fine." Ymir responded as she felt her ears turning red out of concern and embarrassment.

"Then you'll love this as much as I did," Jean began as he rolled his eyes in frustration, "_Eren_ got cast as Romeo."

"Yeager?!" Ymir exclaimed in disbelief, "That kid can't fight his way out of a wet paper bag, much less act his way out of one."

"_Ymir_!" Historia sharply said as she turned to Ymir.

Ymir smiled a devilish grin as she leaned in and graced Historia's lips with hers. They held that kiss for a few seconds, and Ymir whispered lightly in Historia's ear, "Sorry, force of habit."

Historia was flushed with a vibrant hue of crimson, and she stammered out, "I-Its fine, just, control yourself next time…"

Ymir chuckled a stifled chuckle and replied, "You know that's impossible when I'm around you…" as Historia's blush intensified, Ymir looked up at the rest of the group, and said, "Shame that Yeager ended up as Romeo, eh?"

"You can say that again…" Jean moaned as he hung his head in sorrow. He cast a quick glance over to Mikasa, and remembered how he had originally planned to suggest that Mikasa go for the role of Juliet, and he would secretly try out for Romeo. He had hoped he would be convincing enough to steal the position from Eren, bud didn't anticipate Eren's close ties with the seniors to reach to this extent. A brisk tap on the shoulder from Marco told Jean that he was staring too long, and he straightened himself up before anyone else could notice.

"And what is that _Carmen_ play anyways?" Ymir inquired in a tone that was a bizarre mix between curious and disgusted.

"1800s play that's your basic tragedy with a twist," Marco explained, "the feminine lead dies in the end after her two lovers fight in an epic sword duel."

Ymir scoffed out of indifference, and continued to play around with Historia's hands, and mix in the occasional light coo-ing noise.

"Sounds like your standard drama setup," Connie stated as he kicked back in his chair, "I think I might even have a chance for one of the lead roles!"

"Yeah, Carmen!" Jean remarked as he began to laugh uncontrollably.

As Connie slugged Jean in the shoulder, shutting him up pretty fast, he said, "Oh, shut up…you have as good of a chance getting cast as Carmen as I do!"

As the duo broke into another one of their fights, Ymir leaned in towards Marco and inquired, "What's up with the suggestions about dudes playing girls?"

Marco scratched his cheek with his index finger and replied, "Oh! Uh…well…"

Ymir slapped Marco on the back and sharply said, "_Out with it!_"

"R-Right…" Marco continued, "You see, there weren't enough girls here to fulfill all of the girl roles, so…we now have to have guys fill the unfilled girl roles."

Ymir looked blankly at Marco for a minute, while Historia got up off of her lap to try and help Armin break up the debacle happening between Jean and Connie. After a moment, Ymir began to silently giggle, before bursting out into full-on laughter. After she calmed down (and had obtained a fair amount of looks from the rest of the club members), she said, in-between intermittent giggles, "So you're telling me, that Yeager might end up lockin' lips with _another dude_?!"

"It would appear that way…" Marco trailed off as he shrugged a little bit.

Ymir continued to giggle as she softly said, "After this, Historia and I might not be so alone here…"

"What do you mean?" Historia inquired as she walked back over to Ymir, having settled things between Jean and Connie (with a little physical force here and there…).

As Ymir took Historia's hand, and pulled her back down onto her lap, she stifled back some chuckles as she said, "Historia, you are gonna _love _this one…"

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

_A/N: So you're probably wondering…_

Author, why are you cutting this chapter so short?! This is unlike you?! Is the world ending?!

_The answer: It's due to my schedule this week was absolutely insane, what with end of the quarter exams. I also have those coming up later in the next week, so next week it'll be hard to tell about the chapter length, but I'll do my best to make it longer than this one, for sure. _

_Also, there are some minor altercations to the schedule for chapters (for those of you who aren't already up-to-date on this one). I've recently started a fanfic in the Kill la Kill section of FF called, '__**Lost, but Found**__', and I've decided (in order to avoid what happened with a previous fiction…*cough* __**My Heart's Desire**__ *cough*) that I will be alternating chapters. Meaning, that a new chapter will appear every other week for this fiction. But, the weeks that I don't do a chapter for this, I will have a chapter up for '__**Lost, but Found**__'. _

_If you haven't already checked it out, I highly recommend reading it (*shameless plug*), only because everyone else seemed to enjoy it, and that really made me happy. So, I see no reason why my other readers wouldn't enjoy it!_

_So, now to the actual ending A/N…_

_With the auditions upon us, there are bound to be some guys put into girl roles. But how will Eren react if he's put up with a masculine Juliet?! What does this mean for the future of the Drama Club? And most importantly…do you think I have a shot for the role of Mercutio? _

_What, too soon?_

_But I've got something special planned for the next chapter..."The Auditions (Part 2)!"...but, we cross that bridge when we get there..._

_So, if you're gonna go check out '__**Lost, but Found**__', then I guess I'll see you next week! If not, then I'll see you in two weeks! And if you're invisible…I'll probably never see you but whatever, I still love you nonetheless!_

_I'll see ya soon!_


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